Bang Galore
ELITE MEMBER
- Joined
- Feb 21, 2010
- Messages
- 10,685
- Reaction score
- 12
- Country
- Location
Modi may delay Israel visit
Sachin Parashar,TNN | Nov 4, 2015,
NEW DELHI: PM Narendra Modi is not in a hurry to visit Israel and will instead wait for a visit by Israeli President Reuven Rivlin to India, and possibly even his counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, before taking a call on the timing of his own visit next year.
Official sources said dates are being finalised for Rivlin's visit, which is likely in the next few months, and that only after that visit will both sides start working on Modi's much awaited visit to Tel Aviv.
Diplomatic sources said Israel is even open to a visit to India by Netanyahu before Modi goes there. However, there have been no formal discussions yet to finalise Netanyahu's visit. President Pranab Mukherjee had extended a formal invitation to Netanyahu to visit India when he met him recently during his visit to Israel. India is now waiting for an official reply from the Israel government.
India believes that there should be a considerable time gap between visits by the president and PM which means, according to Indian officials, Modi will now go to Israel only late next year. "The PM's visit to Israel will be a momentous occasion and it is important we prepare well for it,'' said an Indian official.
Modi's will be the first visit to Israel by an Indian PM since the two countries established formal ties in 1992. The only Israeli PM to have visited India was Ariel Sharon in 2003. With Israel not particularly hung up about protocol issues underlining high-level bilateral exchanges in its relations with India, the Indian government in fact may even wait for Netanyahu to visit India before formalising Modi's visit.
According to both sides though, there's a lot of groundwork still required to be done to grease the skids for a bilateral meeting between the two prime ministers. Both countries are hoping that they can conclude negotiations for the long-pending Free Trade Agreement (FTA) before the two PMs meet.
"That could be the biggest takeaway from the meeting," said an official. The two countries are also looking to sign MoUs in four major focus areas in bilateral relations, namely agriculture, water resources, security and counter terrorism.
Sachin Parashar,TNN | Nov 4, 2015,
NEW DELHI: PM Narendra Modi is not in a hurry to visit Israel and will instead wait for a visit by Israeli President Reuven Rivlin to India, and possibly even his counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, before taking a call on the timing of his own visit next year.
Official sources said dates are being finalised for Rivlin's visit, which is likely in the next few months, and that only after that visit will both sides start working on Modi's much awaited visit to Tel Aviv.
Diplomatic sources said Israel is even open to a visit to India by Netanyahu before Modi goes there. However, there have been no formal discussions yet to finalise Netanyahu's visit. President Pranab Mukherjee had extended a formal invitation to Netanyahu to visit India when he met him recently during his visit to Israel. India is now waiting for an official reply from the Israel government.
India believes that there should be a considerable time gap between visits by the president and PM which means, according to Indian officials, Modi will now go to Israel only late next year. "The PM's visit to Israel will be a momentous occasion and it is important we prepare well for it,'' said an Indian official.
Modi's will be the first visit to Israel by an Indian PM since the two countries established formal ties in 1992. The only Israeli PM to have visited India was Ariel Sharon in 2003. With Israel not particularly hung up about protocol issues underlining high-level bilateral exchanges in its relations with India, the Indian government in fact may even wait for Netanyahu to visit India before formalising Modi's visit.
According to both sides though, there's a lot of groundwork still required to be done to grease the skids for a bilateral meeting between the two prime ministers. Both countries are hoping that they can conclude negotiations for the long-pending Free Trade Agreement (FTA) before the two PMs meet.
"That could be the biggest takeaway from the meeting," said an official. The two countries are also looking to sign MoUs in four major focus areas in bilateral relations, namely agriculture, water resources, security and counter terrorism.
