India, Israel important partners: Israeli envoy

India and Israel have quickly become each other's important partners and the similarities between the two nations make them compatible rather than competitors, Israeli envoy to India Daniel Carmon said today.

This makes the growing partnership between the two countries a mutual necessity and Israel has become India's reliable technological partner, he added.

"India is quickly becoming an important partner to Israel and vice-a-versa. Although different sizes, there are many similarities that make us compatible rather than competitors," Carmon said.

He was speaking at the Indo-Israel Innovation Conclave organised here.

"Looking at India and Israel relations, from agricultural projects (like) setting up of dozens of centres of excellence across India to manufacturing defence (equipment), to the ventures like cleaning of the Yamuna (River) with the help of Israeli technology, Israel is proving to be India's reliable technological partner," the Israeli envoy said.

Asserting that science and technology is fundamental to Israel's economic development, Carmon said it was impossible to compete in the global market without technological capabilities.

Over the years, India and Israel ties has seen an up-swing. Last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Israel while his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu visited India this year.

During Modi's visit, India and Israel had signed an agreement to start an innovation fund under which the two countries will contribute USD 4 million each annually for five years. The Innovation Fund will be governed by a joint Board which will consist of four members from each country.

The MoU envisages promotion of bilateral Industrial Research and Development and innovation cooperation in the fields of science and technology by extending support to joint projects for innovative or technology-driven new or improved products, services or processes.

Speaking at the event today, Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, said India has deep strength in science and technology which is indicated by various measures like number of scientific publications.

India is number five in the area with over 1,00,000 scientific publications, he said, noting that the rate of growth of publications in India is 14 per cent in comparison to the global rate of 4 per cent.