Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is set to visit Israel from November 6 to 9, amid a flurry of bilateral engagements signalling deepening of ties.
Singh is expected to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on November 6 while other relevant meetings were being worked out for the high-level four-day trip. It will be the first visit of an Indian Home Minister to Israel since June 2000, when L K Advani visited Tel Aviv which marked an upswing in bilateral cooperation.
The two sides will also be holding their annual foreign ministry consultations in the first week of November with a delegation of officials led by secretary (east), Anil Wadhwa, visiting Israel.
Singh’s visit comes close on the heels of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with his Israeli counterpart Netanyahu on the sidelines of the UNGA in New York last month. During that meeting, Netanyahu had said “sky is the limit” in terms of prospects of cooperation between the two countries, seeking “greater and greater” ties with India.
India is Israel’s largest purchaser of defence equipments and the Jewish state is the second largest supplier of arms and armaments for New Delhi, next only to Russia.
The two countries also have a Joint Working Group on counter-terrorism.