25 / 116
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