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India-Israel CEOs Forum charts a roadmap for enhancing bilateral trade to US$ 20 billion by 2022
Jan 15, 2018
- 2nd Meeting of India-Israel CEOs Forum presents
a wide-ranging blueprint to PMs of India and Israel
- Innovation-led cooperation
to act as a 'Bedrock' for enhancing Indo-Israeli relations
NEW DELHI, 15 January 2018:
Leading business leaders from India and Israel today submitted wide-ranging
recommendations in the area of innovation across sectors to Mr. Narendra Modi,
Prime Minister of India and Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of
Israel to achieve US$ 20 billion bilateral trade turnover in
the next five years from the present level of US$ 5 billion. The goal was
envisaged during the first meeting of CEOs Forum in July 2017.
The recommendations were
submitted to the two Prime Ministers at the second meeting of India-Israel CEOs
Forum organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and
Industry(FICCI) and Manufacturers Association of Israel (MAI) today, coinciding
with the visit of Mr Benjamin Netanyahu and a high-powered official and
business delegation to India.
The
recommendations were arrived here following extensive deliberations of six
working groups earlier in the day.
According to Mr. Pankaj
Patel, Immediate Past President, FICCI & Indian Co-Chair of the Forum,
"The Forum is of the considered view that biggest opportunity between India and
Israel is in the creation of an innovation economy, with both our countries
taking big strides in the innovation and start-ups space. It should be
natural for the two countries to align policies to nurture and support the
innovation eco-system to make success of the Innovation Bridge launched in July
2017 and $ 50 million National Technology and Endowment Fund
announced."
The Forum discussed at length,
steps to deepen the cooperation in the field of agriculture. Building further
upon the already existing mature collaboration in the sector where India has
benefitted from Israeli technology in horticulture mechanization, protect the
cultivation, micro irrigation and post-harvest management through several
Israel Centre of Excellence in different States of India, the Forum noted that
India was all set to assimilate these technologies for long-term gains.
The working groups also made the
following recommendations to strengthen Indo-Israeli engagement in diverse
areas:
Defence, aerospace and
homeland security
There remained a need for both
our governments to nurture co-production and co-development by considering a
new approach to our policy. It was unanimously proposed that all
manufacturing organizations, whether public or private sector, get included in
such partnerships. This would have a dual benefit of enhanced manufacturing
activity and increased trade. At the same time, this would also be an
opportunity for India���s SME sector to upgrade their manufacturing technology,
and skills for technology absorption. This is in line with FICCI's
strategy for engagement with Israel in this important sector.
Agriculture and water
management
The
Working Group discussion in these sectors, evolved a clear opportunity of
collaboration in the area of desalination where Israel remained a world leader.
India could act as a base for low cost manufacturing and project
implementation. Mobile, solar desalination plants for Indian villages
appear to be a great opportunity for our coastal areas.
In addition, we can use already
prevalent drip irrigation technology from Israel to enhance nutrient efficiency
in crops, for better productivity. For this, scaling up drip irrigation
in arid areas of India is to be promoted which will also go a long way in
creating the Second Green Revolution in India.
Urban infrastructure and
transport
This is a new area of possible
cooperation wherein Israel companies have expertise for small cities and
districts. Actions here could include creation of knowledge hubs and
technology transfer ecosystem in the aspects of distribution, traffic
management, citizen safety and waste management to start with.
Digital technology - IT,
cyber and data security
This area of cooperation has
inherent complementarities between our countries. With India���s
world-renowned software skills, our companies need to collaborate in the area
of cyber and digital security technologies for making our country digitally
empowered. This would also be an important pillar for our Digital India program.
Start-up and innovation
eco-system
The Forum was unanimous in noting
that for articulating and promoting an ���innovation economy���, collaborations in
the area of innovation research is necessary, besides the funding support
already announced. Another area the Forum would explore is a tri-lateral
partnership between India, Israel and United States, with focus on the SMEs
sector.
For further details,
contact:
Santosh Tiwari,
Senior Director,
M: 9811994305.