India & Israel should continue efforts to seal FTA: Envoy

In order to finalise the long-pending Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and Israel, the two sides should meet and continue the efforts, Israeli Ambassador to India, Daniel Carmon today said.
"There have been eight rounds of negotiations between both the countries in the last couple of years...There have been conversations...But no initiation of a new round," Carmon told reporters.
"The two sides should meet and continue the efforts and we see this year as 25 years (establishing diplomatic ties) of celebrations and the high level visits that took place and will take place eventually in the future as good opportunity to celebrate something so important as the FTA," he said.

"I think it's in the interest of both the sides for this to happen," he said reacting to a query on the status of the signing of FTA between the two countries.
"Both the countries have been engaged in the FTA process. I am very confident it will better our trade relations even more and it could act as catalyst for trade relations. The 25 years of celebrations on marking of diplomatic relations could be a good opportunity to advance in those fields which need more pushing," the Israeli envoy said.
Asked about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Israel, Carmon said, "The date hasn't been announced. The governments of India and Israel are very interested in strengthening the relations. We are in close contact with Government of India and (will be) honoured to host Prime Minister of India in Israel, but no announcement of date has been published as of yet.