Thirty years ago, in June 1992, I landed at the old Indira Gandhi International Airport as a young diplomat. It was hot and humid but I still felt like it was spring in the air. India had just announced the establishment of full diplomatic relations with the state of Israel and we had a mission to set up our Embassy in New Delhi. Few days later, I flew to Mumbai to visit our Consulate, which was established in the 1950s, shortly after India recognised Israel. Today, Israel’s Embassy and two Consulates in India together are among our largest diplomatic missions in the whole world. The transformation in the last three decades is phenomenal.
For me, coming to India was a dream coming true. As a child, I was inspired by India’s freedom struggle, especially by Mahatma Gandhi. I was intrigued by the similarities between Israel and India as ancient civilizations and as young democratic nations; the painful experience of partition, herculean tasks of providing food, water, equitable opportunities of livelihood to our populations. The large number of political parties and diversity in their point of views is also the subject of my interest. So when I got this opportunity to go to India, I grabbed it with both of my hands.
In my first stint of 6 months in India, I worked with Efraim Dubek, Israel’s first Ambassador to India. At the beginning our Embassy was located in the crowded Connaught Place area. I still remember the warmth of ordinary Indian people and the lukewarm response of Indian government officials when we used to meet them. Today, we have established mutual trust at every level, whether it is political leadership, government officials, law & order agencies or between people to people. Our bilateral relations have attained a very wide base encompassing students, entrepreneurs, farmers, scientists and government and non government institutions. The India-Israel relations are on their own and are not held hostage to any other countries.
The India-Israel Agriculture Project is our largest international development cooperation project in the world. It provides a platform to thousands of farmers to learn from the Israeli agriculture experience. Water management is at the forefront of Israel’s public diplomacy. Our government has created a new position of Water Attache and our first water attache is posted in New Delhi. Whether it is Bundelkhand, Marathwada or Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, Israel is keen to share her Mantra of More Crop Per Drop and recycling and reusing every single drop of water. Israel has emerged as a world leader in the field of cyber security. India which is experiencing a digital revolution and is a hub of talent is an ideal partner for us. Homeland security, medical devices, AI, robotics, material science, clean and green technologies and FinTech are some of the areas where I see great opportunities for bilateral cooperation. Success in all these areas is enhanced when great minds from our two countries meet. Indians top the international students coming to Israel for higher education. They are sought after by Israeli universities and companies.
India is home to 83 unicorns with a total valuation of USD 277.77 billion. More than half of them were born in 2021 and this year the number of new unicorns is expected to cross 50. Israel registered 33 unicorns in 2021, which attracted an investment of USD 25 billion. What is more fascinating is our tech entrepreneurs shine bright in the US. Out of the 1078 founders of the 500 Unicorns registered in the US last year, 90 were born in India and 52 were born in Israel. Hebrew and Hindi have become kind of native languages in Silicon Valley.
Since its birth, Israel has strived for peace with her neighbours in the region. In the last 2 years, 4 Arab countries have normalised ties with Israel. The warmth in the relations with countries like UAE, with which India has very close ties opens up many windows of opportunities for multilateral cooperation. The first virtual meeting between the foreign ministers of Israel, India, UAE and the US in November 2021 is a step in the right direction. Today with 3.1% output, India is the 5th largest manufacturing country in the world. It has a great potential to climb up the ladder very fast. Israel with her out of box thinking and cutting edge technologies can complement and benefit from the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan.
Even though the bilateral relations between Israel and India are flourishing throughout the last 30 years, they got a big fillip by the historic visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Israel in July 2017. It changed the image of Israel in the eyes of ordinary Indians and enhanced people to people cooperation. I see a great potential for Israel’s cooperation with Indian states.
Rapid economic growth is good for our countries and people. But it adversely affects mother nature and causes climate change. As countries vulnerable to severe droughts, unseasonal rains, desertification and rise in average temperature Israel and India can together do a lot in reducing emissions and mitigating climate change. The areas such as solar energy, efficient use of water, green hydrogen, alternate proteins and sustainable agriculture are the new frontiers for India-Israel cooperation. As ancient civilisations, which have greatly contributed to modern universal values, I am confident that in the post Covid world, Israel and India will take these challenges together and convert them into opportunities.
(Kobbi Shoshani is the Consul General of Israel in Mumbai)
