The first formal meeting of India-Israel CEOs forum was recently organised in Tel-Aviv coinciding with the visit of Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India to Israel. Pankaj Patel, President, FICCI and Chairman, Zydus-Cadila Healthcare and Indian Co-Chair of the Forum, led a 16-member delegation of Indian CEOs to participate in the CEOs Forum Meeting.

An MoU was also signed between Cadila Healthcare and Phibro Israel, to set up poultry vaccine project in India on technology transfer basis. 12 strategic business MoUs worth over $4.3 billion were signed between Indian and Israeli companies.

Patel said, "The India-Israel CEOs Forum has been constituted at the time when we are commemorating 25 years of our relationship to extend an institutionalised platform to harness the economic complementarities of our vibrant economies for collectively staking claim to global business and investment opportunities. The presence of top CEOs from both the countries as Forum members would add needed operational vision for them to undertake harmonized efforts for realising cooperation in developing new and innovative areas of collaboration."

Shraga Brosh, President of Manufacturers Association of Israel and Chairman, Presidium of Business Organization and Co-Chair from the Forum from Israeli side, said: "We have identified great business opportunities for Israeli companies in India in sectors such as transport infrastructure, including roads, railways, civil aviation and traffic management systems, smart cities, renewable energies, water and environment, automotive, food, naval and aerospace industries, and defence. In all these sectors, identified as a priority by the Indian government, we count on leading companies at global level that will be able to contribute to the economic development of India."

During the Forum meeting, Invest India which is India’s National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency and promoted by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, shared that a dedicated desk has been set-up in their organisation to promote Israeli investments into India and partnerships between India and Israel. It will act as a single window agency providing comprehensive services for all Indo-Israel ventures.

Post the meeting, the CEOs Forum members called on Narendra Modi and Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister, Israel, and Co-Chair from both sides submitted a brief meeting outcome report to them for developing future course of economic engagements.

The forum identified and stressed on the need to realise opportunities in focus sectors identified during the first meeting of CEO’s Forum. There was a consensus that the current trade volume amounting to just over $4 billion, has the potential to reach $20 billion in the next five years. To realise this goal, the forum underlined key recommendations to two Head of States.

Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) from India and Manufacturers’ Association of Israel (MAOI) have been mandated to be the technical secretariat for the India-Israel CEO’s Forum.