When significant changes are taking place in the world, the importance of India-Israel relations has increased even further, PM Modi said

On the occasion of 30th years of diplomatic relations between India and Israel, Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasized on setting new goals for mutual cooperation between the two countries.

“What better opportunity to set new goals for mutual cooperation – when India is celebrating the 75th anniversary of its independence this year, when Israel will celebrate the 75th anniversary of its independence next year and when both the countries are celebrating the 30th anniversary of their diplomatic relations,” Prime Minister Modi said in a statement released on Saturday.

On January 29, 1992, India had set up its diplomatic relations with Israel.

Terming it as a special day, the Prime Minister said: “A new chapter began between the two countries. Even though this chapter was new, the history of both our countries is very old. There has been close relationship between our peoples for centuries.”

Prime Minister Modi said that for hundreds of years “our Jewish community has lived and flourished in a harmonious environment in Indian society without any discrimination. It has made significant contributions to our development journey.”

He expressed his confidence that India-Israel friendship will continue to set new records of mutual cooperation in the coming decades.

On the other hand, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in special video message emphasised on the ‘Gehri Dosti’ (deep friendship) between India and Israel.

Bennett thanked PM Modi for his “deep commitment” to the “strong and robust friendship” as the two nations celebrated 30 years of establishment of diplomatic relations.

The Israeli PM described the opportunities of collaboration between the two countries as “endless” and stressed that the ties between Israel and India are strong and together they will only grow stronger.

“There is something I wanted to tell to all of the people of India. Israel and India have a gehri dosti, Deep Friendship. Today we honour 30 years of diplomatic relations between Israel and India. Thirty years of a wonderful partnership, a deep cultural connection, and military and economic cooperation,” Bennett said.

“I would like to thank my dear friend, Prime Minister Modi, for his leadership and deep commitment to this strong and robust friendship,” he stated.

The Israeli PM further said, “Our countries may be different in size but we share much in common - our rich history, the inherent warmth of our peoples, and our cutting edge innovation and technology.”

India recognised Israel on September 17, 1950 and full-fledged diplomatic relations between the countries were established on January 29, 1992.