India-Israel Initiate First Round Of FTA Talks, Raise Bilateral Relations To Special Strategic Partnership

India and Israel have decided to raise the status of their bilateral relations to a Special Strategic Partnership, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday.

The partnership will focus on peace, innovation and prosperity.

The two countries will also fast-track their efforts to finalise a free trade agreement, he said. During the last day of his two-day visit to Israel, Modi was addressing a press briefing in Jerusalem.

An Israeli team is in India, holding the first round of negotiations for the free trade agreement. The two sides have decided to launch a bilateral financial dialogue, said India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri in a statement.

The focus of Modi’s visit to Israel remained technology, particularly artificial intelligence, along with collaboration in healthcare, education and cyber security.

Through his X (formerly Twitter) account, Modi said that both countries have decided to establish a partnership to collaborate in critical and emerging technologies. This initiative will be lead by the National Security Advisors of the two countries. “This will speed up cooperation in the fields of artificial intelligence, quantum and critical minerals,” he said in a tweet in Hindi.

This partnership is in line with India’s recent efforts to secure the supply chain of critical minerals, which are essential for new-age technologies. India’s adversary China has a virtual monopoly over lithium, rare earths and high-end machinery for semiconductor manufacturing.

The prime minister also expressed pleasure over the agreement to allow the use of Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in Israel.

Earlier, Modi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held delegation-level talks. In the presence of the two leaders, India and Israel signed 16 economic, security and diplomatic agreements after the conclusion of the talks.

Details about the MoUs signed are still awaited. During the last day of his second visit to Israel as Prime Minister, Modi also met Israeli President Isaac Herzog. According to official statements, they discussed possibilities for further enhancing cooperation in education, start-ups, innovation, technology and connectivity.