On 20th August 2020 India signed a cultural agreement with Israel, which outlines a three year programme of cooperation for 2020 to 2023, to strengthen the strategic bilateral relations through promoting the people to people exchange.
Gabi Ashkenazi, Foreign Minister of Israel and Sanjeev Singla, India’s Ambassador to Israel signed the agreement at the foreign Ministry in Israel.
- This is one of a series of agreements which will be followed by the signing of a water agreement by our Ambassador in India.
- This agreement is based on the cultural agreement signed between India and Israel on 18th May, 1993.
Features of the agreement:
Cultural ties:
i.This cooperation will contribute to the development in the relation between India and Israel.
ii.This will also contribute to raise awareness among youth about the history and culture of the people of both countries.
iii.This will promote cooperation and strengthen the mutual understanding and friendship between the two countries.
iv.This will promote the cultural ties through exchange of heritage and archeology with the support of Israel Antiquities Authority (IIA) and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI)
Arts and literature:
i.Literary fest and book fairs will be organised under this program to promote the translation of famous works in prose, poetry and other literary works of other languages.
ii.This also includes exchange programmes for students through scholarship, participation of films and filmmakers in the international film festivals and sports related interactions among youths.
iii.Both the countries have agreed on exchange of culture, art experts, performing arts festivals, plastic arts, photography and design, architecture, museums and exhibitions, music, dance, dance and theatre by enabling annual visits of experts, artists, producers and curators.
Other agreements:
Ron Malka, Israel’s Ambassador to India signed an agreement with Uttar Pradesh to cooperate in the water utility on the Indo-Israel Bundelkhand water project.
Recent Related News:
i.India, Australia signed seven agreements after the first India-Australia virtual leader’s summit held between Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison to further strengthen the bilateral ties in areas like healthcare, trade and defence.
ii.India and Denmark signed an MOU for developing cooperation in power sector
About Ministry of External Affairs:
Union Minister– Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar (Elected to Rajya Sabha from Gujarat)
Minister of State– V. Muraleedharan
About Israel:
Prime Minister- Benjamin Netanyahu
President– Reuven “Ruvi” Rivlin
Capital– Jerusalem
Currency– Israeli Shekel
