Indian Ambassador Singla unfurls national flag to celebrate India’s Independence Day in Israel

Herzliya (Israel), Aug 15 (PTI) India’s Ambassador to Israel Sanjeev Singla highlighted the deepening bilateral ties as he hoisted the tricolour here to celebrate India’s 77th Independence Day on Tuesday.

Over 300 Indians including people from the Indian Jewish community, Indian students and NRIs turned up from across Israel to take part in the Independence Day celebration despite it being a working day.

Ambassador Singla unfurled the national flag and highlighted the deepening ties between India and Israel, with India emerging as Israel’s second-largest trading partner in the last fiscal year, crossing the USD 10 billion mark in bilateral trade for the first time.

“To this end, an MoU on industrial research and development cooperation was also signed between the two countries in May,” the Indian envoy noted stressing on enhanced cooperation between the two countries.

Singla also touched upon discussions in the defence sector and emphasised India’s priority for indigenous defence manufacturing and invited Israeli Defence industries to deepen their investments in joint ventures.

He mentioned a telephonic conversation between the Defence ministers of the two countries during which they identified areas of collaboration in high-end technologies.

There have been several high-level visits from Israel to India this year, including that of Speaker of the Knesset, Amir Ohana, Minister of Economy Nir Barkat and Foreign Minister Eli Cohen.

A framework agreement on the facilitation of temporary employment of workers in specific labour markets in Israel for the recruitment of construction workers and caregivers from India was initialised during Cohen’s visit, Singla noted.

“This agreement will allow skilled Indian workers to work in Israel in the sectors of construction and nursing,” he said.

The Indian ambassador also appreciated the role of the Indian diaspora and the Jewish community which he described as “powerful links” in the strengthening Indo-Israel ties.