Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has offered to set up an Indo-Israel industrial park in his state, saying the collaboration will help take the bilateral ties to "the next level", besides creating a wonderful eco-system for the community at large.
"Israel has technology, Israel has brains, Israel has innovation and India has the urge to collaborate. Israeli technology collaborates with India. I feel that it can create a wonderful eco-system not only for the business community but the community at large.
"There is a huge scope in the field of agriculture, in the field of ICT, in the field of defence manufacturing", Fadnavis said.
In his address at symposium Indo-Israel Collaboration for 'Make in Maharashtra' yesterday, organised at the Tel Aviv University, he described Maharashtra as "the powerhouse of India".
"I think we have to take our ties to the next level and for that it is the right timing. I think we can take this collaboration forward so I invite you all to India. I hope this day will open a new chapter in Indo-Israel ties.
"Israel-Maharasthra collaboration is already happening with many centres of excellences in the field of agriculture established in the state," he said.
The young leader also sought to bring in defence investment in the state.
"As you all know that Israel is the second largest supplier of defence equipment to India. So I think it is not just time to supply, it is also time to manufacture in India and especially in Maharashtra", he said.
Maharashtra has already decided to set up an Indo- Japanese Industrial park near Pune.
"We have a very developing industrial sector near Aurangabad which is a part of Delhi - Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (DMICDC). 4000 acres of land has been allocated for the projects and still more are expected to be added to make it one of the most rapidly emerging industrial areas.
"Several manufacturing industries are coming to Aurangabad and then there is an emerging industrial area near Nagpur. We could be a multi-model manufacturing hub with a state-of-the-art infrastructure created everywhere", Fadnavis added.
The chief minister will participate in the three-day Agritech Israel 2015, the 19th International Agricultural Technology Exhibition, which opens today.
The young leader is scheduled to meet officials at Israel Aerospace Industries during his three-day visit and is likely to appeal to them to choose his state for shifting some of their manufacturing units to make their products more cost-effective.
"The manufacturing sector is looking towards human resource. In many countries, manufacturing is not an activity where people want to invest in more, because it is not affordable, but in Maharashtra in India, it is not only affordable, but has also abundance of skilled manpower available", he said.
