Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu set to arrive in India today

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday broke protocol to personally receive his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu with a hug as he arrived in New Delhi to begin a six-day visit that will also take him to Mumbai and Gujarat.

"This visit is an opportunity to enhance cooperation with a global economic, security, technology and tourism power", Netanyahu said.

"We are striving for increasing cooperation and collaboration in various fields", said Israel's Ambassador to India Daniel Carmon at a media briefing on Friday.

"Indian Prime Minister Modi is a close friend of Israel and of mine". Reuven Rivlin, the current president of the West Asian nation, visited India in 2016.

Modi and Netanyahu formally renamed the Teenmurti Chowk as Teenmurti-Haifa Chowk, commemorating the centenary of the historic Battle of Haifa.

January 12 (ANI): India and Israel will be enhancing cooperation in various fields during the upcoming visit of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to India.

The build up to Netanyahu's visit was soured this month when India called off a deal to buy 8,000 anti-tank guided missiles from Israel's state-owned defence contractor Rafael.

Modi - who will accompany Netanyahu for large parts of his five-day tour - embraced the Israeli prime minister on the tarmac before the pair set off to pay homage at a war memorial in the Indian capital.

Israel will be investing United States dollars 68.6 million to boost cooperation with India in areas like tourism, technology, agriculture and innovation over a period of four years, a senior official here said ahead of Netanyahu's visit.

Apart from New Delhi, Netanyahu will visit Agra, Ahmedabad and Mumbai during his first visit to India.

Israeli Ambassador to India Daniel Carmon on Friday down played India's stand at the UN General Assembly over the U.S. decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in place of Tel Aviv, saying New Delhi's view "cannot influence" Indo-Israel ties.

Joint Secretary (West Asia-North Africa division) in the ministry B Bala Bhaskar had said that the Palestinian issue is likely to figure in the talks between the two PMs besides other key issues of mutual importance. The two leaders will witnessing several innovative technologies in the field of water, agriculture and health at iCreate and visit a Centre of Excellence.