Israel has expressed confidence that the free trade agreement (FTA), would change the composition of trade between both the countries.
According to Alon Ushpiz, the Ambassador of Israel in India, the main areas of focus by Israel would be information technology, bio technology, bio chemistry and agriculture. “The agreement would change the composition of trade between both the countries,” he said.
The country has centre of excellence in Haryana in agricultural sector and is planning to do it in Maharashtra and Rajasthan too. “We will be expanding our operations in West Bengal too,” Ushpiz said, during an Indian Chamber of Commerce meet here on Tuesday.
Sources close to the development said that the talks for FTA between both the countries had reached third round and was looking positive.
While the size of bilateral trade between the two countries was $ 4.7 billion, Ushpiz expressed confidence that it would touch $ 12 billion mark in the next five years.
Next year, both Israel and India are planning to mark the 20 th anniversary of bilateral tie ups.
Israel has also inaugurated a business promotion centre in Kolkata on Tuesday. “The role of the centre would be to do match making,” he said.
The centre would work in attracting Israeli investments to West Bengal and the other way. The Ambassador lso met chief minister Mamata Banerjee later in the day, but he did not disclose the agenda of talks with Banerjee.
However, in an unprecedented move, he also met Naparajit Mukherjee, the director general of West Bengal police, ahead of his meeting with the chief minister.
When asked about the details of the discussion, he said, “It is not possible to disclose the issues raised at the meeting.”
Responding to a particular question on whether the discussion had anything to do with the Naxal problems in the eastern region of India, he said, “We have a close relation with India and the well being of the citizens here are very important for us.”
