Israel President Reuven Rivlin’s visit to India next week is expected to set the stage for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s long-awaited trip to Tel Aviv sometime in 2017. India had been awaiting Rivlin’s visit to reciprocate President Pranab Mukherjee’s visit to Israel in October last year, the first by an Indian head of state. Israeli and Indian officials had indicated that Modi would travel to Israel once the president’s visit had been reciprocated. Carmon was reluctant to get into the specifics of defence cooperation, saying it had progressed beyond a “buyer-to-seller relationship” to joint development of systems. “Our defence cooperation is the type of cooperation which helps our relationship and is in the national interests of both sides,” he said.

Source: Hindustan Times November 10, 2016 10:41 UTC