Israel India | Business Guide | 2017

History of Business Collaboration > General Content > 0 25 I srael and India, two young nations that were established after struggles for independence from the British Empire, will soon celebrate their 70th. India got its Independence on August 15th, 1947, and Israel on May 14th, 1948. Many similarities can be drawn between the two. Both had to build an economy almost from scratch, basing it initially on agriculture. Both are democracies with multi ethnicity that face till date,security challenges.One declares that on the line from Bangladesh to Marrakesh those are the only two democracies. Both were built on the notion of socialism that shifted over time to capitalism. Both had a strong leader that led its country in the independence battle. India had Mahatma Gandhi and Israel had David Ben Gurion. Comparing India to Israel is achievable on the parameters mentioned above,but size does matter.Although the current population growth rate of Israel is surprisingly higher than that of India (1.9% vs.1.2%),India is touching the 1.3 billionmark,and Israel has only 8.6 million people. As an illustration, the population of India grows each year in the proportion of “two Israels” (about 15 million people per year). According to The World Bank, while the growth rate in India’s population in 2015 was 1.2%, it was 2.0% in Israel! Diplomatic relations between the countries were non-existent at first.In 1948,India opposed the establishment of the State of Israel in the UN vote. It is said in humor that Indians never say “no” and the one time they said “no”was in this historic UN vote.Only in 1950 did India recognize the sovereignty of Israel but still opposed full diplomatic relations, claiming it would hurt the sentiments of its Arab neighbors – the claim to be heard over the years by many Indian leaders.From1950 to 1992 diplomatic relations were informal,Israel held only Consulate in Mumbai and business relations were on a very small scale.In 1991, India’s financial crisis forced it to liberalize and open up to the world markets.Probably as part of this liberal trend and the domino effect following the collapse of the USSR, in 1992 India agreed to go on a full scale and have full diplomatic relations with Israel. Similarities Make us Unite From absence of diplomatic relations to strong strategic and economic partnership, India and Israel are looking to the future Adv. Anat Bernstein-Reich 25 years since then,the countries have strong diplomatic,strategic and economical relations with each other. As of 2017, the countries’ defense ties are prominent and symbiotic.India, being the largest buyer of military equipment in the world,is Israel’s largest buyer of military equipment. Defense relations are beyond trade, and also include joint military R&D, intelligence and training. Through the years, tens of reciprocal visits by Heads of State and Ministers enhanced diplomatic and trade relations.A few important ones are the visits of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2003,of the President of India,Mr. Pranab Mukerjee in October 2015 and the reciprocal one by the President of Israel,Mr. Reuven Rivlin in November 2016. The visits of Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Netanyahu are eagerly awaited. The Author is the Chairperson of Israel-India Chamber of Commerce 9th President of Israel Shimon Peres and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi, 2014 13th President of India Mr.PranabMukherjee with 10th President of Israel Mr. Reuven Rivlin and Mrs. Nechama Rivlin photo by:Government Press Office of Israel - Mark Nayman - Spokesperson's Unit of the President of Israel Adv. Anat-Bernstein Reich, Chairperson of Israel- India Chamber of Commerce,with Prime Minister Narendra Modi