(L-R) Lt. Gen. M.M. Narvane, Vice Chief, Army, Admiral Tim Fraser CB, Vice Chief of the Defence Staff, UK, and General Bipin Rawat, Chairman-Chiefs of Staff Committee at the summit

NEW DELHI: Calling India and Israel not only strategic partners but “natural allies”, the Israeli Ambassador to India, Dr Ron Malka said the scope of collaboration between the two countries was more than any other allies in the world. Speaking at the Indian Defence and Aerospace Summit 2019, organised by NewsX and The Sunday Guardian of the iTV Network, Malka said India and Israel must work together in areas like food security, water security and cyber field apart from countering the common threat of terrorism.

“Looking East from Israel, India is the first and the only democratic country. Likewise, the most democratic country India finds on its West is Israel. Apart from the rich ancient culture and civilisation, the two countries also face similar challenges and hostilities which essentially make India and Israel natural allies and not just strategic partners. Israel is 150 times smaller than India yet the scope of collaboration between the two counties is immense,” Malka said.

Men in uniform at the summit (Top) - Some of the key delegates of the summit

Giving impetus to the “Make in India” mission of the Narendra Modi government, the Ambassador said Israel was keen on “Making with India”, developing and exporting defence products to other countries. He said with abundance of skilled and unskilled manpower, India was the most ideal country for investment and developing strategic partnership with Israel. He also emphasised on new technological innovations and said it had the potential of defusing tension and reducing conflicts with neighbouring countries.

Touching upon the common challenge of fighting terrorism, the Israeli Ambassador said the world now understands that they need to unite against global terrorism and that India and Israel have big scope of partnership in this area. He claimed that with the use of advanced technology, Israel has been successful in protecting its borders. However, the use of technology could also result in defusing tension and thus making world more sustainable, he added.

Malka noted that even in the area of military alliance, there was a big scope for India and Israel to forge partnership in communication and digital defence, which he termed was the future of national security. He cautioned that India and Israel must be fully prepared to tackle any cyber attack on its stock market and power infrastructure. Laying the vision for future, he urged the Israeli companies to manufacture with India and take up new research and development to be exported to the rest of the world.