Israeli envoy to India Daniel Carmon on Tuesday met Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh here and invited him to visit his country in September to develop cooperation in agriculture and water conservation, the state government said.
"Carmon and Amarinder Singh met here and the two sides explored enhanced cooperation in several areas that were critical for the development and progress of the state," a government spokesperson told IANS.
The Chief Minister suggested that his delegation to Israel could include progressive farmers.
The Chief Minister has been invited to visit Tel Aviv during WATEC Israel, an international professional exhibition to be held from September 12-14, which would offer a platform to showcase latest technologies, the spokesperson said.
Amarinder Singh's likely visit would follow that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in July.
The north Indian state is keen to use Israeli expertise to promote horticulture, dairy farming, bee-keeping, irrigation and water conservation in Punjab, said the spokesperson.
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Besides working on a strategic partnership on water conservation and agriculture, the two sides also decided to set up a joint working group on agriculture, horticulture and dairy farming.
This was the second meeting between the Chief Minister and the Israeli envoy in the past three months.
During their last meeting, the two sides had agreed to explore the possibility of setting up a Punjab-Israel working group for continuous dialogue on issues of mutual interest, with the concurrence of the Indian government.
The Israeli envoy showed interest in setting up more centres of excellence to promote agriculture diversification across the state after the huge success of its two such centres in Kartarpur, near Jalandhar, and Hoshiarpur.
He said these centres had been instrumental in introducing high-yielding varieties of fruits, vegetables, new farm practices under controlled conditions, net farming, drip and sprinkler irrigation.
Carmon told the Chief Minister that two more of such centres were in the pipeline -- one in floriculture and another in beekeeping -- to boost allied farming in the state.
The two sides also agreed on the need to incentivise private companies to collaborate on such projects.
--IANS
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