India and Israel are expected to review progress across high-tech manufacturing, cybersecurity and agriculture, while negotiators work toward a structured free trade framework signed in November 2025.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a previous bilateral engagement. (File photo | IANS)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to undertake a two-day State visit to Israel from February 25-26, where he will meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to review and expand cooperation in defence, security, trade, and innovation.
The visit unfolds even as the first round of negotiations for a proposed India-Israel Free Trade Agreement (FTA) has begun in New Delhi, a parallel diplomatic and economic push that signals the next phase of the strategic partnership.
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According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the two leaders will review progress in the India-Israel Strategic Partnership and explore opportunities in science and technology, agriculture, water management, trade and people-to-people ties.
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“During the visit, the PM will meet the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu. The two leaders will review the significant progress made in India-Israel Strategic Partnership, and discuss further opportunities in various areas of cooperation, including science and technology, innovation, defence and security, agriculture, water management, trade and economy, and people-to-people exchanges.”
PM Modi will also meet Israel’s President Isaac Herzog.
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry said the timing of the negotiations provides fresh momentum to economic engagement.
The Terms of Reference were signed in November 2025, formally kicking off the process. Officials say the proposed FTA could offer much-needed certainty to businesses, particularly MSMEs, and widen access to new markets.
Officials on both sides emphasised the importance of building a balanced, forward-looking pact. India’s Chief Negotiator Ajay Bhadoo said the agreement should reflect the evolving partnership, while Israel’s Chief Negotiator Yifat Alon Perel noted that it could strengthen supply chains and open new markets.
Ahead of the visit, former Israeli Ambassador to India Daniel Carmon said the relationship has grown steadily over the years.
In an interview with ANI, Carmon said, “First, it was under the radar and it was discreet, then it became visible in 2014, much in the defence sector, but also in other sectors that benefit the governments and the peoples of both countries… The content of the relationship has deepened and enlarged by far and in an unprecedented way.”
“No one can deny the fact that the two leaders speak the same language. But others also do. I prefer to look at the relationship, and the process that started even before we had diplomatic relations is an issue of between governments and peoples and not between specific leaders, without ignoring the fact that they speak the same language and have similar points of view and interests,” he added.
Carmon also pointed to initiatives such as IMEC and I2U2 as possible areas of broader cooperation in a shifting global order.
This will be PM Modi’s second visit to Israel, after his 2017 trip when he became the first Indian Prime Minister to visit the country.
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