Israel is exploring potential areas of cooperation with Puducherry, including jointly implementing a safe city project, Ziv Shalvi, Deputy Chief of Mission and Head of Administration and Consular, Consulate General of Israel in Bangalore, said on Wednesday.
“The safe city project involves hooking up an entire city with high-end surveillance cameras whose feeds are available in a control room,” Mr. Shalvi said.
The Israeli Consular official, who is making his first visit to the city, is also learnt to have made a strong case for Israeli collaboration in areas such as desalination _ it has a project in neighbouring Tamil Nadu _ and agriculture during his discussion with Chief Secretary Chetan Sanghi.
Though he was scheduled to meet Chief Minister N. Rangasamy, the meeting was cancelled in the eleventh hour. He also had informal discussions with the French Consul General Philippe Janvier-Kamiyama.
“We’re keen on building trade partnerships in south India,” said Mr. Shalvi, whose Consulate’s jurisdiction extends across Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry.
According to Mr. Shalvi, Israel has been attracting a steady flow of Indian businessmen and pilgrim tourists over the years. “We hope that peace returns to the region quickly,” he said. For Israel, India generates the most tourist footfalls from Asia and it has been looking at ways such as easing visit visa guidelines, to increase the flow.
It is estimated that about half-a-lakh Indian tourists, predominantly pilgrims, visit Israeli destinations every year. Roughly, the same proportion of Israelis visit India every year.
Agriculture is another area where Israel has expertise it seeks to share with India, said Mr. Shalvi. Israel has developed a range of technologies and techniques to overcome its own natural resource constraints and the know-how is now driving modernisation in farms across India.
There are 28 farming centres of excellence set up under the Indo-Israel agricultural cooperation framework for various crops and horticultural produce and this network is being expanded.
“We could even think of having a centre in this city. There are many such areas where we can work together and gain from each other,” Mr. Shalvi said.