Work on for visit by Israeli PM to India

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is likely to visit India next month for a second meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a little over a year after his last visit to New Delhi, it is reliably learnt.

Though sources here were tight-lipped, they indicated that work was underway for the visit.

Netanyahu may arrive on February 11 but there was no official confirmation.

Netanyahu visited New Delhi on January 15 last year during the course of which India and Israel signed nine agreements, including in the areas of cyber security and oil and gas.

Israeli National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat recently visited India and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported.

During Ben-Shabbat's visit, Netanyahu spoke to Modi over the phone and planned the upcoming visit.

Meanwhile, Modi will also visit South Korea for a day on February 21-22 to receive the Seoul Peace Prize.

In October last year, it was announced that Modi would be conferred the Seoul Peace Prize, a biennial award instituted to crystallise the wishes of the Korean people for peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Modi has been awarded "in recognition of his dedication to improving international cooperation, raising global economic growth, accelerating the human development of the people of India by fostering economic growth in the world's fastest growing large economy and furthering the development of democracy through anti-corruption and social integration efforts".

--IANS

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