India: Prime minister visits Israel

By APD Writer Rishika Chauhan

**NEW DELHI, July 5 (APD)- ** Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as he arrived in Israel on Tuesday.

Modi’s visit marks the first time that an Indian prime minister has visited Israel since 1992, when the two countries established diplomatic ties. Netanyahu received Modi at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport, greeting him in Hindi, while Modi replied in Hebrew.

Speaking at the event Netanyahu said, “When I and Prime Minister Modi met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September 2014, we decided to break down the final walls that separate us. Prime Minister Modi said the sky was the limit but today we have reached space with the two countries joining hands.”

In an interview to an Indian daily, Micheal Oren, deputy minister in the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office hinted at a possible trilateral partnerships in the coming years. He stressed that with “India and the US as friends of Israel, a trilateral relationship would be the future. As the US withdraws from the region, India, as a country with democratic values, should join hands with Israel.”

Modi also visited the Danzinger flower farm in Mishmar Hashiva, Israel’s prominent floriculture firm, where a new chrysanthemum flower was named after Prime Minister Modi.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)