India & Israel Sign MoU - [July 5, 2017] This Day in History

05 July 2017

MoU signed between India and Israel

What happened?

Narendra Modi with Benjamin Netanyahu

Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a historic visit to Israel between 4^th and 6^th July 2017; many agreements and MoUs were signed between both countries on 5 July. This was the first visit of an Indian Prime Minister to Israel. Read on for UPSC international affairs segment.

PM Modi’s Israel Visit 2017

• Narendra Modi visited Israel between 4^th and 6^th July 2017. This was the first such visit by an Indian prime minister to Israel.
• Modi was received by the then Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Ben Gurion airport. The visit was significant because many important agreements were signed between both countries. Also, Israel is an important arms partner for India with India now becoming the largest arms market for Israel.
• Another significant aspect of the visit was that Modi did not visit the Palestinian authorities on this visit.
• The Prime Minister visited several landmark places including the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, the World War I memorial for martyred Indian soldiers at Haifa, and also met Moshe Holtzberg, one of the survivors of the 2011 Mumbai terror attacks.
• On 5^th July, the second day of the visit, several Memorandums of Understanding were signed between India and Israel. The following were the MoUs signed:
  • Between the Department of Science and Technology of India and Israel’s National Technological Innovation Authority for establishing a Technological Innovation Fund (I4F) and India-Israel Industrial R&D.
  • 3-Year Work Program in Agriculture by India-Israel Development Cooperation.
  • Between India’s Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation and Israel’s Ministry of National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Resources for the national campaign for conservation of water in India.
  • Plan of cooperation signed between ISRO and the Israel Space Agency (ISA) for cooperation in the field of atomic clocks.
  • Between the Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam, Govt. of UP and Israel’s Ministry of National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Resources for state water utility reform in India.
  • Between ISRO and ISA for cooperation in electric propulsion for small satellites.
  • Between ISRO and ISA for cooperation in GEO-LEO optical link.
• Israel is India’s third-largest arms supplier behind only the USA and Russia.
• Israel has helped India during the war with China in 1962 and in both the wars with Pakistan.
• In 1967, India had helped Israel during its six-day war by providing spare parts for certain aircraft and tanks.
• In April 2017, the two countries signed a deal worth USD 2 billion for an advanced medium-range missile system. This system surface-to-air missile system would help the Indian military to shoot down missiles, drones and aircraft.
• In terms of trade, Israel is India’s 38^th largest partner with the balance of trade in India’s favour.
• The two countries also share cultural ties with many Jewish people in Israel having had migrated to that country from India, which was their home for generations.

Also on this day

1918: Birth of K Karunakaran, four-time Chief Minister of Kerala.
1994: Kiran Bedi, India’s first woman IPS officer awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for government service.

See previous ‘This Day in History’ here.