By Trend

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett will visit India next month to mark the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations and to take forward the strategic alliance between the two countries.

This will be Bennett’s first official visit to India since he became the prime minister in mid-2021, though he and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi met on the margins of the UN climate change conference or COP26 in Glasgow last November.

Bennett, who will arrive in India on April 2 at the invitation of Modi, said in an official statement that he and Modi will together “continue leading the way for our countries’ relations”. He added: “Modi restarted relations between India and Israel, and this is of historic importance.”

India recognised Israel in 1950 but full-fledged diplomatic relations were established only in 1992. The two sides elevated their relations to a strategic partnership in 2017, when Modi made the first visit by an Indian prime minister to Israel.