India’s Chief of the Army Staff Gen. Manoj Mukund Naravane arrived in Israel on Sunday for a five-day visit "to further strengthen strategic defense cooperation between both countries," the Indian Army said in a Twitter post.
This is Naravene’s first visit to Israel to meet with senior military officials since he began his term as India’s top military officer in 2019.
He is scheduled to meet with IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi, and visit the GOC Army Headquarters (Bar-Lev Camp).
“The Army Chief will take forward the excellent bilateral defense cooperation between Israel and India through multiple meetings with senior officials of the security establishment and exchange views on various defense-related issues,” the Indian military said in a statement.
The visit comes after two other high-profile visits from Israel's South Asian ally: Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Indian Defense Secretary Ajay Kumar.
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Then-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Indian counterpart Narendra Modi during the latter's Israel visit, July 6, 2017
(Photo: GPO)
During Kumar's visit, Israel and India agreed to set up a task force to build a comprehensive 10-year plan to identify new areas of defense collaboration.
India is Israel's largest arms client, accounting for 43 percent of the total amount dealt, according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).