Israel says, Article 370 is India's internal issue which India will deal appropriately

New Delhi: In a show of support to India's abrogation of article 370 and 35A in Jammu and Kashmir, Israeli Ambassador to India Ron Malka said, 'we see it as something that’s an Indian issue. India is the biggest democracy in the world, respects individual rights, respects the rule of law and we are sure India will deal with this issue appropriately and a in peaceful way.' 

In the context of the cancellation of Prime Minister Netanyahu's visit to India just before his crucial elections on September 17, Malka said, 'there are may schedule constraints and they are not about importance but about urgency. Sometimes things that are less important are more urgent. India is very important and a meeting will be sketched out after elections in Israel.' About the issues of elections in Israel he said, 'Elections in Israel are first and foremost on security, then economic situation and some social issues.'

With a 100,000 Indian Jews living in Israel, India Israel enjoy strategic partnership and Israel being leader in technology and innovation has been partnering with India is diverse fields of defense, agriculture, water, cyber and space.

Ron Malka, an economist, emphasized on developing financial markets, a key component in progressing India Israel relations. He informed that Israel is engaging with India's leading financial institutions like SEBI, Central Banks, RBI and stock exchanges. Meetings have been held between their Chairman's' and CEO's in domains of mutual cooperation. He hopes companies of both nations will be soon listed in each others stock exchanges.    

Agriculture is a major collaboration area between Israel and India. Israel runs 28 centres of excellence with Israeli expertise for excellence sharing. In 2018, 1,47,000 Indian farmers were trained in these centres of excellence. They are now upgrading to villages of excellence. Israel is working on increasing farmers income, trying to cut middlemen to bring changes to improve farmers conditions.

Similarly mutual projects in the area of usage of water are a part of strategic partnership which also include water security, food security, cyber security, technology. Malka informed that water experts from Israel shared their experience, methods, techniques with 1200 experts from 256 districts in India suffering from scarcity of water. Israel, once a water parched country that started with low availability of water now has abundance of water through their innovative techniques of harvesting water. With innovation Israel has achieved a turnaround in water sector. Malka said, 'rainfall in Israel has doubled 50%, multiplied 5 times. We declared a policy of water independence as we couldn't rely on weather for water. So we developed technologies for harvesting rain, desalination, particularly sea water and brackish water. We reuse 90% of water.' Israel has developed 'Precision Agriculture' which is essentially using satellites and drones to monitor fields that will tell exact amount of water each field/ plant uses. 'We are keen to share our techniques with India using frontier and state of the art technologies and prevent doing the mistakes that we did.' 

Israel is collaborating in Ayushman Bharat too. Mincing no words Malka said, 'With PM Modi's Invest in India call, for Israel companies make in India is natural as Israel a small country and there's shortage of manpower in all kind of skills. So for us to come to India, upscale our technology and Make in India is only natural. For Israel, Make in India and exporting the products to other countries, we need to spread innovation. We want to see India a strong economic power and a strong player in international arena.' Under the same flagship programme a new plant has been set up in Hyderabad which is a joint venture of Israeli company and an Indian defense company.

Israel being a leader in cyber security, Malka says, 'The most important thing about cyber security is to be one step ahead to defend yourself. Since India is a close friend and strategic partner we shared with India many frameworks eg there is a national cyber security adviser. We are working together on systems to protect power plants against cyber attacks.'

On the vexed issue of Palestine, Malka said, 'We cannot negotiate our existence unless we have a partner that recognize the basic right to live and exist. We will find solution.'

Advocating tough sanctions for keeping Iran under pressure, Israel feels that this will bring Iran to the table of negotiations to settle a new and lasting agreement that will bring prosperity of Iranian people and country which is necessary for stopping the 'radical regime expansion which has mass destruction weapons specially that will lead to total annihilation of Iran.'

'Any kind of terrorism should be a cause of concern. Terrorism is not only the problem of India and Israel, its a world problem and so we should get united and work,' he said in the context of terrorist attacks in India. 

Tags: #Ron Malka #Israel #India Israel relations #Article 370 #India Pakistan #Israel technology #Prime Minister Netanyahu #Israel Elections 2019

Chinese envoy Sun Weidong says we are partners and friends, likes Bollywood's 'Hindi Medium'

New Delhi: 'China and India are neighbors, partners and friends. Today over 1,000 Chinese companies are doing business in India, with a cumulative investment of 8 billion US dollars, which has created 200,000 local jobs. More than two-thirds of Indian companies investing in China are making handsome profits, 40 percent of them would like to increase their investment in China this year,' said the Chinese ambassador to India Sun Weidong. He stressed that China-India relations have extended beyond bilateral dimensions and are significant in maintaining regional and global peace, prosperity and development.  

Cautioning on trade wars that are effecting world economies he said, 'We resolutely oppose provoking trade frictions, openly interfering in China's internal affairs and undermining our interests, and we will firmly defend our legitimate interests. We are willing to properly handle differences on the basis of mutual respect and resolve issues through dialogue and negotiation.'

Sun Weidong who is an Asia expert and has come to India on his second stint, the first one as Councillor from 2005-08 in the Chinese embassy in India, struck similarities between Indian and Chinese society. Revealing admiration for Bollywood films he said, 'Recently, I watched an Indian movie called Hindi Medium. It is about a young Indian couple, who tried desperately to get a better education for their daughter. Such feelings of parents are not only seen in India, but also in Chinese families',said Sun. The box office of Indian films is twice as much in China as in India. The Indian pavilion at the Beijing International Horticultural Expo has attracted millions of Chinese visitors. With the long history, large population and economic volume of the two countries, China-India cooperation enjoys vast potential for development, he informed the mixed audience of Heads of Missions, media, Chinese guests, business representatives and others present.

Reminding of common history and future goals that China and India share Sun said, 'As the only two large developing countries with over one billion population, China and India have so many similarities than any other country in the world. We had splendid ancient civilizations, suffered from colonial and imperial aggression, achieved national liberation and independence almost at the same time, and jointly advocated the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. At present, both of us face the common task of growing the economy and improving people's livelihoods. China is striving for its "two centenary goals", and India is working towards the goal of building a "new India". China and India should learn from and help each other to realize win-win cooperation and common development.'

Calling Wuhan Summit and the following meetings between Prime Minister Modi and President Xi Jinping in Ahmedabad as "hometown diplomacy", Sun emphasized the importance of China India partnership. 'If China and India speak in one voice, the whole world will listen. We both advocate world multi-polarity, economic globalization, trade liberalization and oppose unilateralism and protectionism. We can closely coordinate under the framework of BRICS, G20 and SCO, to jointly tackle global challenges and to promote a fair and just global governance order. China and India both uphold the concepts of "Great Harmony" and "The World as One Family".

Interestingly having been China's envoy to Pakistan (2013-17) and Malaysia, Sun surely understands the diplomactic nuances of India and its neighbourhood. 'For neighbors and major countries, differences are hard to avoid. The key is to properly handle them. We should put issues in the bigger picture, reduce differences through consultation, settle disputes through dialogue, promote peace through development, and enhance mutual trust through cooperation, he said'

'Over the past 7 decades, China has successfully embarked on a path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and made great strides from standing up and growing wealthy to becoming stronger. In 2018, the retail sales of consumer goods in China totaled 5.76 trillion US dollars, making it the second largest consumer market in the world.'

The changing world order with US pushing for protectionism, China is opening wider to the outside world. Sun informed that China has recently announced the establishment of six new pilot free trade zones, bringing the total number to 18. 'All countries in the world will benefit from China's greater opening-up,' he said.

Hong Kong, that is witnessing huge protests on the issue of Extradition laws is being watched by the world. Ambassador Sun Weidong clarifying China's stand on Hong Kong said, 'Some external forces meddled in China's internal affairs, deliberately calling violent crimes as peaceful protest. This is an outright "double standard". Hong Kong affairs are purely China's internal affairs. There is no sovereign issue over Hong Kong at all. We would never allow any external forces to interfere in Hong Kong affairs. Be it in the past, present or future, China has all the ability, confidence and resilience to overcome any risk and challenge.'