The Hindu Business Line : Indo-Israeli trade may cross $2 b this year

WITH its total exports to the US crossing $ 28 billion recently, Israel expects its bilateral trade with India to cross $ 2 billion during the current fiscal, recording a growth of around 40 per cent over the previous fiscal, according to the Ambassador of Israel to India, Mr David Daneli.

He was addressing a meeting on `Indo-Israel bilateral relations - Andhra Pradesh emerging opportunities', organised by the Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FAPCCI) jointly with the Indo-Israel Chamber of Commerce and Industry here on Monday.

Finding enormous potential for mutual cooperation with Andhra Pradesh, Mr Daneli said the prospective areas included telecommunications, information technology, agri-technology, biotechnology, micro-irrigation and water resources management. According to him, rural development and agriculture were two important sectors where Israel could offer its expertise to India in general and Andhra Pradesh in particular.

Acknowledging that the State was leading in production of rice and sugarcane, Mr Daneli said the Israeli teams had conducted several pilot projects earlier in India, which suggest that drip irrigation can work well for these crops in India with a significant improvement in the productivity. India and Israel were having lot of similarities in geography, soil, climate and water quality, which enable the Israeli scientists to extend the benefits of their agri-technology related research to the Indian farmers, he said.

According to the FAPCCI President, Mr O.P. Goenka, the two-way trade between the two countries reached $ 1,259 million during the January to July this year compared to $ 880.9 million in the corresponding period lat year. The Indian exports to Israel for the first seven months of the current year increased by 29 per cent from $ 493.3 million in 2003 to $ 636.5 million. During this period, Israeli exports to India increased by 60.6 per cent from $ 387.6 million to $ 622.5 million.

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