Israel keen to boost hi-tech ties with India

MUMBAI: Israel is keen to strengthen a small-but-growing partnership with India in high-technology and is set to sign a bilateral agreement to boost joint research and development, Israel's deputy prime minister said.

Ehud Olmert also sought to allay fears among Israeli business leaders that closer ties with India would lead to a loss of jobs.

"I don't think that at this point in life that this is a major problem for life in Israel," he told a news conference in Mumbai.

"It is true that outsourcing is done to India from other countries, but not yet from Israel in such a scale that it should be a source of concern to us."

His visit to India is the first official visit by an Israeli government delegation since Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's left-backed Congress-led coalition government took office in May.

The previous government fostered ties with Israel, helping it become the largest military supplier to India after Russia.

Olmert, who said partnerships could also develop in bio-technology, life sciences and homeland security, is leading an Israeli business delegation to India's tech capital Bangalore.

Earlier this year, Israeli digital recording system provider Nice Systems opened an office in Bangalore to provide support services for the Indian market, having sold systems to leading back-office firm Wipro Spectramind.

"India is emerging as one of the superpowers of the world in new technologies and the software industry in India is highly developed," Olmert said.

"Israel has been heavily involved in those industries over the last decade, so there is a lot of room for cooperation."

Olmert said the main message of his visit was that the Middle East was in the midst of a major change, with Israel committed to a three-way free trade pact with the United States and Egypt as well as separation between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza.

"The new Congress government, we believe, will view this positively and with optimism," Olmert said.

Indo-Israeli civilian bilateral trade is set to reach $2 billion in 2004, having almost doubled in the last four years.