Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon on Thursday said that his nation has understood the importance of technological advantages over its adversaries, adding that Tel Aviv is willing to share the same with its 'partner' India.
Yaalon said Israel, as a tiny country, has realised that technology is very significant.
"In order to overcome our disadvantages - in territory and in population, we found a way to turn disadvantages into advantages. We used to be short of water, but not anymore by developing a desalination system to produce drinking water. We are short of land, so we have developed technology for agriculture in very hot climates - in the desert, where it is can get to 50 degrees in the summer," Yaalon said, while speaking at the RK Mishra Memorial Lecture in the national capital.
"We are willing to share our techniques, our technologies, our know-how with India," he added.
Speaking of the circumstances that brought about those technological advantages, Yaalon said that his nation was a 'tiny country' in a 'tough neighbourhood'.
"There are a lot of similarities between India and Israel. We are both democracies and we share common aims and common interests. But when it comes to our size, we cannot compare. Israel is a tiny country and only eight million citizens. Israel is a tiny country living in a very tough neighbourhood: the Middle East," he said.
"We are encircled by countries that aim at our destruction by conventional warfare by armed invasions into our lands from the day of the declaration of our independence. Later on, our neighbours realised that there is no way to defeat Israel through conventional warfare and so they turned to sub conventional warfare - rockets and even missiles - targeting our civilians. But we have developed a system by which we can intercept these rockets, by which we can avoid casualties as well as property damage. Having said that, we have had to make all sorts of changes security-wise in order to overcome non-conventional warfare, conventional warfare and sub-conventional warfare," he added.
Yaalon, who is the first Israeli Defence Minister to visit India in an official capacity, had earlier in the day called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
India imports critical defence technologies from Israel. There are regular exchanges between the armed forces.
There is cooperation on counter-terrorism issues, through a Joint Working Group on counter-terrorism that meets periodically.
In February 2014, India and Israel signed three important agreements on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, Cooperation in Homeland and Public Security, and Protection of Classified Material.
