Setting the stage for a prime ministerial visit from India in 2017, Israeli president Reuven Rivlin arrived here on a six-day visit on Monday.
Mr. Rivlin landed in Mumbai and then left for Delhi with a delegation of leading agriculture, defence and university figures of Israel. He is scheduled to receive a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Tuesday and will hold bilateral talks with President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Before embarking on the visit, Mr Rivlin took to Twitter and wrote in Hindi that he would focus on industrial and academic issues during his visit.
“Filled with pride as I depart for State visit to India to see how Israeli innovation is improving the lives of millions,” President Rivlin said on Twitter before leaving for India.
Mr. Rivlin is likely to focus on agriculture cooperation between the two sides during the visit. He is accompanied by Michael Mirilashvili, chairman of Watergen, one of the most important futuristic companies of Israel that specialises in optimal use of water resource.
Mr. Rivlin is expected to visit Chandigarh and Karnal as part of his plan to highlight agri-cooperation. In Chandigarh, he will inaugurate ‘Agro Tech 2016' along with President Mukherjee and in Karnal he will visit the Centre of Excellence of Indo-Israeli Agricultural Project.
Mr. Rivlin’s visit is expected to pave the way for the visit of Prime Minister Modi to Israel, which had been expected since his election in 2014. “Since the visit of Ariel Sharon in 2003, there has been no visit by a head of government or the state from Israel to India despite numerous ministerial trips from both sides. This is a special visit to celebrate our 25 years of diplomatic relations and we are sure that India will fall in love with our loving and compassionate president,” said Anat Bernstein-Reich of India-Israel Chamber of Commerce.
Mr. Rivlin is the second president of Israel to visit India in two decades. The first Israeli president to visit India was Ezer Weizman who visited Delhi in 1997. Mr. Rivlin’s arrival will set in motion bilateral exchanges to mark twenty-five years of formal diplomatic ties which was started in 1992 at the end of the Cold War.
