Ben-Eliezer. To visit Chabad House
Photo Dudi Vaaknin
Ben-Eliezer to discuss trade relations in India
Industry, trade and labor minister travels to subcontinent with representatives of 25 companies, aims to launch negotiations on free trade agreement between countries in bid to help Israeli firms deepen their activity in Indian market
Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and his ministry's director-general, Sharon Kedmi, have embarked on an official visit to India. The minister is joined by a delegation of businesspeople from 25 Israeli companies in the fields of agriculture, infrastructure, alternative energy, water, internal security, communications and services.
The companies include Motorola, ECI, Rafael, Elbit Systems, Magal, Naan Dan Jain and Netafim.
The visit was organized by the Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry's Foreign Trade Administration, together with the ministry's commercial attachés in New Delhi and Mumbai. The business delegation is headed by Avi Hefetz, CEO of the Israel Export and International Cooperation Institute.
Ben-Eliezer was expected to be the first Israeli minister to visit the Chabad House in Mumbai since last year's terror attack and to light a candle in memory of the victims.
The minister said during a meeting with representatives of the firms accompanying him that "during this visit we hope to reach a breakthrough on a number of issues which are on the economic agenda between us and India. I aspire to increase the volumes of trade between the countries and improve the trade infrastructure between Israel and India, which is a key state in global economy."
According to Ben-Eliezer, his ministry views Israel's economic relations with India as extremely important and seeks to strengthen them.
"We will make every effort to get the Indian government to launch negotiations with Israel on a free trade agreement, which is expected to improve tremendously the trade relations between the countries and significantly increase the cooperation between us," he said.
"During the visit I plan to also make significant progress in terms of technological cooperation in industrial research and development between the countries and many other initiatives in a number of fields, including internal security, communications and software, water and agriculture with the Indian government and the Indian industry, which will undoubtedly help Israeli companies in their activity in the country."
