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Analysis: Indian Elections Bode Well for Deepening Ties & Trade

Writing at the Israeli business oriented website Globes today, Norman Bailey writes that the recent election of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister of India “looks promising for Israel.”

Bailey, a professor at the University of Haifa, attributed Modi’s success as governor of India’s Gujarat state to reducing governmental interference in the economy and that, as a result, “Gujarat now produces 25% of India’s exports; unemployment and the level of poverty are well below the Indian average.”

Regarding Israel’s future ties to India Bailey writes:

India has long been a friend of Israel and an important market for Israeli goods, especially in defense equipment and high-tech exports. There is reason to believe this relationship will further strengthen as Modi takes office and begins to implement his programs. The defense and high-tech sectors should continue to flourish and be supplemented by Israeli agricultural technology, which India badly needs.

In fact Israel’s business ties with Gujarat have been going on for some time. In December of last year Israel and Gujarat signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen industrial cooperation.

An MoU will soon be signed between Gujarat and Israel to create a corpus fund to strengthen partnership in the area of industrial development, Consul General of Israel in Mumbai, Jonathan Miller, said here today.

“The draft of the MoU is ready and will be signed in the presence of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi soon. Gujarat is a business-oriented state and this MoU will help both Isreali and Gujarat-based companies in developing and strengthening the industrial relationship,” Miller said.

India’s ties with Israel under Modi will be based on similar economic visions for the two countries as well as an already established and successful relationship from Modi’s time as governor.

Israeli trade with India which has boomed since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1991 is expected to strengthen under Modi. Israel’s growing ties with India is part of it diplomatic outreach to Asia including Japan and China. This outreach has been paralleled by the growth of trade, with Asia now projected to supplant the United States as Israel’s second biggest trading parner this year.

[Photo: Global Panorama / Flickr ]