Foreign Ministers of India, Israel discuss ways to strengthen ties

Israel's newly-appointed Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar on Thursday in a telephonic call spoke about ways to strengthen bilateral ties, including ways to promote Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and projects in the field of innovation, food and water security.

Jaishankar congratulated Cohen on his assumption of office, a press release from the Israeli foreign ministry said.

"The ministers discussed the importance of relations between Israel and India, relations that are strategic partnership, and the ways to strengthen them through the promotion of a Free Trade Agreement between the (two) countries and projects in the field of innovation, food and water security," it said.

The ministers also discussed the events that were held in 2022 to mark the 30th anniversary of establishment of full diplomatic ties between the two countries and the cooperation between Israel, India, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.

The four countries are collaborating on major infrastructural projects to strengthen economic ties under the I2U2 forum, and even held a summit meeting last year.

Jaishankar also invited Cohen on an official visit to India soon.

"Great to talk to the new foreign minister of Israel @elicoh1", Jaishankar tweeted immediately after the call.

"Look forward to partnering (with) him in taking our cooperation forward. Value his many insights, including on economy and security," he further wrote.

Cohen, who belongs to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, has served in the past governments as Minister of Economy and Minister of Intelligence. He was appointed Foreign Minister by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on December 29, 2022.