New Delhi: India and Israel Tuesday inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to share, co-develop and co-produce advanced defence technologies as Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh and his Israeli counterpart Major-General (Res) Amir Baram met in Tel Aviv.
“A wide range of areas for cooperation have been identified in the MoU that will benefit both countries. Important fields include strategic dialogues of mutual interest, training, defence industrial cooperation, and capabilities including Science & Technology, Research & Development and Technological Innovation, Artificial Intelligence and Cyber Security cooperation,” the statement published by the Ministry of Defence said.
The statement added: “The MoU will enable the sharing of advanced technology and would promote co-development and co-production… India-Israel defence partnership is long-standing, based on deep mutual trust and shared security interests.”
Singh is in Tel Aviv for the 17th meeting of the Joint Working Group (JWG) on defence cooperation. Baram, the Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Defence, concluded a working visit to India earlier in July. Singh and Baram co-chaired the meeting. The latest MoU will “provide a unified vision and policy direction” to defence cooperation between the two countries.
Incidentally, the agreement was signed the same day Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar met National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in New Delhi. Sa’ar is in New Delhi for a three-day visit that began late Monday evening and will end Wednesday morning.
“The JWG reviewed the ongoing defence cooperation initiatives and agreed that both the nations have benefited from each other’s strengths. The two sides discussed the potential areas for future collaboration in the field of technology as well as enhancing operational capabilities. They also deliberated on various issues, including shared challenges of terrorism and underscored their collective resolve to fight against the threat,” said the statement by the Ministry of Defence.
The meeting between Jaishankar and Sa’ar, as well as Doval’s meeting with the Israeli Foreign Minister also focused on the necessity of combatting terrorism and the collective agreement between the two governments for it.
India and Israel in recent years have deepened defence and security ties. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the first world leader to speak to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the attack by Hamas on 7 October 2023. Modi has condemned Hamas’ attack as an act of terrorism.
Similarly, Israel has strongly backed India’s own actions against terrorist threats, while condemning the terrorist attack at Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam earlier this year. The Pahalgam attack left 26 people dead.
New Delhi and Tel Aviv have for the last two decades seen an uptick in the defence partnership. Israel provided India with laser-guided bombs during the Kargil conflict in 1999. In the subsequent decade, the India-Israel defence partnership touched roughly $10 billion.
In 2021, India accounted for nearly 37 percent of Israel’s total arms exports, according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). In recent years, a number of Indian companies have signed joint ventures with Israeli firms to produce arms in India. In 2021, the Israeli Tavor X 95 rifles were supplied to central forces, and were manufactured in India.
Sa’ar during his visit to New Delhi pushed for regional connectivity projects connecting India with West Asia and Europe, such as the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), as well as closer participation in regional plurilateral groups like the I2U2 (India, Israel, the US and the UAE).
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
Also read: ‘Essential to work together towards combating terrorism’—Jaishankar tells Israeli counterpart