Jaishankar, Sa'ar discuss Trump's vision of connecting Israel with India

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External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar on Saturday President Donald Trump's vision of connecting Asia, Europe, and the United States through Israel.

A statement from the Israeli Foreign Minister's office said Jaishankar and Sa'ar met on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, a key global forum to discuss security-diplomatic affairs.

The two leaders also spoke about the challenges posed by attacks on trade routes by the Houthis and Iran, it said.

Sa'ar also highlighted the strategic importance Israel places on its relations with India. Trump in a joint conference with Prime Minister Modi on Thursday said that the US and India have agreed to work together to help build "one of the greatest trade routes in all of history."  "It will run from India to Israel to Italy and onward to the United States, connecting our partners by ports, railways, and undersea cables many, many undersea cables. It's a big development," he said.

He added, "It's a lot of money going to be spent, and we've already spent some, but we're going to be spending a lot more in order to stay advanced and stay the leader."  A project to link infrastructure from India to Europe, through the Middle East was announced at the 2023 G20 Summit.

Israeli Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu then described it as "the largest cooperation project in our history" and as something that will "change the face of the Middle East, Israel, and will affect the entire world."  Freedom of navigation in international waters and an undisrupted global economic activity are the topics that have been discussed in the past by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Netanyahu.

The two leaders in a telephonic conversation in 2023 discussed the importance of securing freedom of navigation in the Bab-el-Mandeb, which is threatened by the aggression of the Houthis, instigated by Iran.

"Freedom of navigation is an essential global necessity that must be ensured," Modi had then said.

Houthis have repeatedly launched attacks on ships in the strategic Bab-el-Mandeb area during the recent conflict between Israel and Hamas claiming that they have been targeting ships with Israeli connection.