Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday hailed the increasing security cooperation between their two countries and called to deepen their economic relationship, as Rivlin made a historic visit to the country this week.
President Rivlin visited the nation for a week, to mark 25 years of diplomatic relations and underlining growing defence ties between the two countries. The visit to India is the second-ever by an Israeli President.
President Modi said at a joint press conference in the Presidential Palace in New Delhi: “We noted the strength of our growing defence partnership and agreed on the need to make it more broad-based through production and manufacturing partnerships”.
He said: “President Rivlin and I deeply value our strong and growing partnership to secure our societies… Our people are constantly threatened by forces of terrorism and extremism. We recognise that terrorism is a global challenge, knows no boundaries and has extensive links with other forms of organised crime”.
Rivlin said he shared India’s desire for peace and security, saying that nothing can justify terror: “I have no doubt that my visit here will help the ties and the cooperation between our two peoples grow stronger: in security and our ability to keep our people safe, in agriculture, in water, in technology, in culture and education”.
On Tuesday, President Rivlin laid a wreath and sprinkled petals on the tomb of the late Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi.
He underlined: “Israel and India have a firm alliance, between two peoples and two states with illustrious and greatly inspirational pasts”.
In a blog published in the Times of India this week, President Rivlin wrote that Israel and India were united in their values. Click here to read the article.
