By Sahil Pandey

Jerusalem [Israel], February 24 (ANI): Israeli Ambassador to India, Reuven Azar, on Monday stated that defence and artificial intelligence (AI) will be the primary focus between India and Israel during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's two-day visit to Israel starting February 25.

Azar, in a conversation with ANI, noted that PM Modi shares a special relationship with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

'Well, we are thrilled to have Prime Minister Narendra Modi after nine years in Israel. He is very loved in Israel. He has a very special relationship with Prime Minister Netanyahu and we've been working in the last year, aligning up ministers coming to India to develop new areas of cooperation, sign new agreements, and we have gathered, we accumulated a number of agreements that we're going to sign during this visit,' he said.

Azar said that Israel and India will co-produce and also co-develop new means that are needed to face the challenges of terrorism.

'First and foremost, in the security field, we want to expand and enhance security, defence industrial cooperation, especially introducing new technologies and more sensitive technologies into the mix to not only sell, but also co-produce and also co-develop new means that are needed to face the challenges that we have in counterterrorism and other fields,' he said.

Azar further said that Israel passed a resolution allocating funds for cooperation, academic cooperation, innovation in agriculture, etc.

'In addition to that, we have just passed a resolution yesterday in our government allocating tens of millions of dollars to enhance cooperation, academic cooperation, innovation in agriculture, in finance, in energy, in mining, many, many fields. And I'm sure that following the signature of those agreements, we are going to start implementing,' he said.

Azar further said that India and Israel are going to sign an FTA in the coming months.

'In addition, we want to sign an FTA. And the blessing of the leaders is going to be important in that context because we want to finish the negotiation in the coming months. That is going to be very important in enhancing the trade between the two countries,' he said.

When asked about the mission Sudarshan Chakra, a system which is somewhat like the Iron Dome system, which you have in Israel, Azar said that missile defence and the usage of AI in missiles are something the leaders will touch upon.

'Well, we usually do not elaborate on the specifics of the Industrial Defence Corporation. But I can tell you that, indeed, missile defence is one field that we're going to deal with. The combination of AI with drones is another field that we're going to deal with in the future. There are many things that are going to happen as a result of the signing of this agreement. And this is going to really become a special strategic relation in which we're going to do things that are important for both countries and are more sensitive than the things we've been doing before,' he said.

Azar said that the Israeli delegation that will be arriving in India will conduct negotiations and sign the first phase of the FTA in the coming weeks.

'Well, the delegation is arriving in India. They will conduct negotiations. And we hope that they get the first phase of the FTA done in the coming weeks. And then we will have to discuss the outstanding issues. I think that now that India has already signed agreements with the main players, with the EU, the US and others, there will be enough attention span to give to this negotiation to try to finish it as soon as possible,' he said.

Azar said that both nations have had fruitful meetings on cooperation in the AI field.

'We had very fruitful meetings with the head of our AI directorate at the prime minister's office. He met with leading figures at MIT, the special envoy to AI. He met with people at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and also with major Indian companies that are dealing in the AI field. What we have the sense following this meeting is that we can do a lot together because again, India has scale. for example, building huge solar fields and renewable energy sources. We can have fast solutions in AI that will reduce the cost of AI by making energy more efficient, data centres more efficient,' he said.

Azar further said that as the Israeli government pumped funds into the education sector, new arenas of cooperation have opened up.

'So there are many things that we can do together. And I hope that following this visit, we will engage. I have, for example, an example of an Israeli company that is already offering services in the AI cyber field. They are working with many countries. They want to work with India as well. And we have also allocated new money in the government decision we adopted yesterday, more money for academic cooperation, more money for innovation cooperation. So I'm very optimistic that following this visit, things are going to speed up in emerging technologies as well,' he said.

Azar said that there is a lot of trust between the countries, and hence, this is the time to deepen the ties to new fields.

'So the trajectory, really, as you said, has been amazing. We have gained trust, and we feel ready to expand both to deepen the relations, as I said, but also to expand into new fields. For example, infrastructure, the pre-qualification for the tenders on the first phase of the greater metro of the Tel Aviv Metro is out now. Many Indian companies have applied. This was a result of an effort we made in the last year to get companies to be attracted to these standards,' he said.

Azar said that Israel wants to see more Indian companies there.

'We want to see more Indian companies working in Israel in large scale. So that is going to be a new vertical. And we are going to do more in transportation. We're going to do more in connections between top universities in both countries. There's a lot to expect, and I'm very happy this visit is going to contribute substantially to that,' he said.

PM Modi is scheduled to begin his two-day visit to Israel on February 25, nine years after his first trip to the country. His 2017 trip was the first ever by an Indian Prime Minister to Israel. (ANI)