India and Israel today inked nine pacts to boost cooperation in key areas, including cyber security and energy. The agreements were signed after extensive talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu for bolstering bilateral ties in strategic areas. The two prime ministers, accompanied by their respective senior Cabinet colleagues, held delegation-level talks during which they also discussed regional and international issues of mutual interests. Netanyahu, who arrived here yesterday, will also visit Ahmedabad and Mumbai during his six-day stay in India.


PM Modi during the joint statement:

"Today and yesterday we reviewed progress in our relations and renewed our relations on the opportunities that beckon us. We have imparted our shared impatience to the implementation of our earlier decisions. The results are already visible on the ground.


"Our discussions today were marked by convergence to accelerate our engagement and to scale up our partnership. Last year in July, I carried the greetings & friendship of 1.25 billion Indians during my momentous journey to Israel.


"In return, I was overwhelmed by the generous affection & warmth of the Israeli people led by my friend Bibi (Benjamin Netanyahu). We will strengthen existing pillars of cooperation in areas that touch the lives of our peoples. These are agriculture, science and technology and security.


"We exchanged views on scaling up the Centers of Excellence that have been a main-stay of agricultural cooperation. In defence, I have invited Israeli companies to take advantage of the liberalized FDI regime to make more in India with our companies."