39756875281_ac24720250_o Courtesy: Israel Prime Minister/ Flickr
26 January 2018

Bibi’s visit a shoring up of business synergies

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent visit to India, which came as a fitting finale to the silver jubilee celebrations marking diplomatic relations between the two countries, showed a purposeful shift in focus from defence to business. The large Israeli trade delegation, accompanying the prime minister, was there to further robust business ties going back to 1972

Prime Minister Modi with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu taking a leisurely stroll along Olga beach in northern Israel, on the last day of the Indian PM's historic visit in July 2017. Courtesy: Flickr/MEA India
11 January 2018

Soft power of Israel’s Indian Jews

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu’s official visit to India from January 14 to 19 will lay accent on the many commercial ties that bind the two countries. Equally important, if less visible, is Israel’s Indian Jewish diaspora, that has benefited greatly ever since full diplomatic relations were established

Bin_Salman__Reuters_ Courtesy:
9 November 2017

Saudi purge: Arab Spring 2.0?

The removal of 11 top ministers in the Riyadh government last week by the young crown prince Mohammad bin Salman, is a geopolitical upheaval, the implications are serious. Domestically, the kingdom is seeking to liberalise its conservative society and move away from oil-dependency – evident from the expected listing of its crown jewel Aramco. For India, which imports oil largely from West Asia, instability could cause a spike in prices, leaving less for its ambitious reforms. Globally, there is now space for new alignments – in the Great Power plays, in the Shia-Sunni rivalry, and in the war on terrorism.

IMG_0796 Courtesy: Dr. Sarah Israel
29 June 2017

India, Israel and the chosen people

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel (July 4-6) marks 25 years of India’s diplomatic relations with the State of Israel. Forging political and economic ties with it has not been smooth sailing, and it’s the Indian Jewish community that has kept a tenuous relationship going

indias-global-energy-footprint Courtesy: Gateway House
14 February 2017

India’s global energy footprint

Trends in technology, geopolitics and geoeconomics have dramatically transformed the global energy scenario in the last two years. This means favourable conditions for import-dependent India, which must use the opportunities available to reduce its vulnerability to high energy prices. The jump in oil prices past the $60 mark suggests that India must act with alacrity. India’s Energy Footprint Map offers a profile of India’s global trade and investment in energy, and indicates what India can do to access cheap and reliable supplies

3W7A1043 Courtesy: Gateway House
14 February 2017

India-Israel: potential for collaboration on defence and cybersecurity

In his interview, Rear Admiral (Retd.) Ophir Shoham discusses Israel’s liberal cybersecurity policies and the high levels of export in the cybersecurity sector. According to him, transfer of technology is imperative for Digital India, as for a country to become digital, Infrastructure is most important which is protected by cybersecurity. In the defence space, he mentions the close relationship India and Israel share despite it being a sensitive area. He prescribes a collaboration between the two countries to build weapon systems that they can use to customize defense equipment for the Indian defense system and the Israeli defense system.

uae prince india Courtesy: MEA/Flickr
25 January 2017

India-UAE: time to foster mutual interests

The West Asian monarchies are being forced to ‘look East’ due to a range of factors: the rise of the Islamic State, their need to boost falling oil revenues and doubts about the United States continuing to remain a guarantor of regional stability. Quite coterminously, India is looking towards the Gulf for energy security besides fulfilling other geostrategic goals: this is an ‘East’ and ‘West’ where the ‘twain will meet