Israeli vice PM to bring trade delegation

Wednesday, 01 December 2004, 20:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: Israeli Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert who is visiting India Dec 6-9 will be accompanied by a big ministerial and trade delegation. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli finance minister and former prime minister, will be part of the ministerial delegation accompanying Olmert - who is also the Israeli minister for industry, trade, labour and communications. "This is the first Israeli ministerial level visit to India since the May 2004 general election and it reflects the continued great importance that the government of Israel attaches to its bilateral relations with India in all fields," the Israeli embassy said in a statement Wednesday. The 75-member delegation, including 50 trade representatives, will be visiting Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi to scout for business opportunities. The trade delegation would represent diverse sectors like IT, banking, infrastructure, agriculture, defence and security. Some of the major participants from Israel include Motorola, Rad Data Communications, Alvarion, ELISRA, ECI Telecom, ELUL Group, RAFAEL, Tadiran Communication Ltd, Plastro Irrigation Systems and TAHAL Consulting Engineers. A few Israeli companies like TAHAL and Plastro already have a presence in India. On Dec 8, the Israeli vice prime minister will have an interaction with Indian industry during a joint conference being organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Indian Merchant Chamber (IMC). "The Israeli delegation would be looking at all kinds of collaboration and agents, while joint ventures may evolve out of the one-to-one interactions planned after the conference being organised by the Indian chambers," an Israeli embassy spokesperson told IANS. Telecommunications, defence and agriculture-related sectors are some of the areas identified for possible collaboration. Similar business conferencea are being organised in Bangalore and Mumbai. The opening of an Israeli Trade Centre to facilitate trade between the two countries will mark the visit to Mumbai. Trade between the two countries is expected to touch $2 billion this year. Israel's exports to India increased by 53 percent during the first three quarters of the year from January-September 2004 to reach $759 million. During the same period, Indian exports to Israel increased by 26 percent reaching $853 million, the Israeli embassy said. "The two nations enjoy most favoured nation (MFN) status and have a wide range of economic agreements, memorandums of understanding (MoUs) and instruments in force to facilitate mutual trade and business ventures," the official statement said. Another bilateral agreement for collaboration on industrial research and development is to be signed between the two countries during Olmert's visit.
Source: IANS
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