India to set up centres of excellence on Israeli model

I / Jerusalem January 14, 2010, 17:44 IST

India and Israel today stepped up efforts to boost cooperation in the agriculture sector as they moved closer to setting up centres of excellence in India.

During a review of the 'plan of action', the two sides found "satisfactory" progress for the establishment of centres of excellence to promote research and development in agriculture sector.

Israeli technique of storage of food grains has particularly attracted the attention of India for possible replication amid the global debate on food security.

A high-level Indian delegation held intensive discussions with Israeli agriculture ministry officials to push forward existing projects and to identify new areas of cooperation.

The Indian delegation, including senior officials from agricultural departments of Rajasthan, Haryana, Maharashtra, are on a four-day visit of Israel to boost cooperation.

The Indian delegation led by Agriculture Secretary T Nanda Kumar expressed the hope that Haryana and Rajasthan will soon have centres of excellence to boost research and development (R&D) efforts in the sector.

Kumar yesterday met Israel's Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon, who recalled his country's long association with India in the field of agriculture.

The Israeli leader expressed the hope that 'the plan of action' he signed with his Indian counterpart Sharad Pawar will give a big boost to the sector in both the countries.

Israel has highly recognised centres of excellence in the field of agriculture in Rehovot, near Tel Aviv, and the Negev besides several other smaller centres.