On the eve of the foreign minister S JaishankarIsrael’s Foreign Secretary Alon’s visit to Tel Aviv Ushpiz told TOI in an exclusive interview, “We want to see a lot, how can be the Indian angle of the new situation in the Middle East? How can we include India in the emerging opportunities? Generally this area is fraught with dangers and challenges. But in the past year, I have seen the landscape in the Middle East dramatically changed because of the Abrahamic Agreement. This is really a strategic earthquake.”
Jaishankar’s visit will be India’s first high-level engagement with PM Naftali BennettThe government of, therefore, closely watched in Israel.
India, especially Narendra Modi, enjoyed a phenomenal relationship with the former PM Benjamin Netanyahuof government. Therefore, the signs of this visit will be a pointer to the future of one of India’s closest international relations. Hence Jaishankar’s discussion with his counterpart yair lapido The discussion will be important.
Interestingly, Ushpiz said, while no one in the Quad had contacted Israel, they would like to engage with “anyone” on the bloc’s focus areas on vaccines, emerging technology, climate change and security. “We would be happy to engage in any dialogue in these areas. I would be very happy to deepen our cooperation with India on all these issues. But… none of the Quad has knocked on our door. ” he said.
Ushpij said that the next frontier of the bilateral relationship lies in Big Data, technology, health care and communication. “There are new frontiers when it comes to technology that we don’t have the luxury of missing out on. Artificial Intelligence (AI), quantum computing, big data – all these things that can be part of our security cooperation and economic prosperity, But also provide security and stability to our people.” We have to be very strict, keep an eye on the ball when it comes to new areas of technology. There is no doubt in my mind that technology can easily decide the economic fate of nations,” he said.
Iran will remain a challenging destination for both countries. Ushpiz said that Iran is “very determined to have a nuclear capability, which I think they have not given up, which I believe they want to take forward as quickly as possible, which we believe they will make every promise.” They are violating what they have done and every paper that they have signed. Unfortunately, in their minds, in the minds of Iranians, they do not see a strong and strong reaction from the international community.”
India, on the other hand, is doubling down on Iran, especially in the context of the latest security challenges emerging from the situation in Afghanistan.
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