Speaking at the ‘Roundtable on Indo-Israel Cooperation in Defence & Homeland Security’, organised by FICCI, Brig. Gen. (Retd) Mishel Ben Baruch, Director, SIBAT, Ministry of Defence, Israel, observed that the meeting was a historic event for India-Israel collaboration in Defence and Homeland Security, and an opportunity to find ways to enhance cooperation between India and Israel in these areas.

Referring to the address of the President of Israel, Brig Gen Baruch highlighted that Israel is committed for ‘Make in India and Make with India‘ in security domain. He underlined three core competencies of Israel to cope up with neighbours; spirit of people to be united, technological solutions to the problems and friendly countries like India, which also face same cross-border threats from un-friendly neighbourhood, just like Israel.

“We are willing to cooperate with India and transfer technologies through partnership with Indian companies. SIBAT and Ministry of Defence of Israel are committed for long term relationship with India,” he said.

Shambhu S Kumaran, Joint Secretary (Planning & International Cooperation), Ministry of Defence, Government of India, emphasised that there is a great degree of trust between the two countries and said that there are growing concerns of cyber threats, which is one of the areas where India and Israel could collaborate. He mentioned that security trade has a lot of complex legal issues and have trade restrictions; hence there is a need for greater engagement and collaboration by jointly leveraging markets which could not be accessed individually.

“In India defence production is set to shift from public sector to private companies and offset programme of the country is also taking shape with a target of USD10 billion in next 5 years,” he observed.

Reacting to the issue of procurement in homeland security raised by Israeli delegation, Rajan Luthra, Co-Chair, FICCI Committee on Homeland Security, said that FICCI is working towards the policy of public procurement in security to ensure transparency and standardization.

Cmde. Sujeet Samaddar, NM (Retd), Hony. Advisor – Defence & Aerospace, FICCI, said that the defence sector will throw up an opportunity worth over USD 250 billion in the next 10-15 years. He mentioned that in addition to cooperation in Army, Navy and Air Force, UAV technologies is an area worth exploring. Cyber security, counter terror and border management are the key areas of cooperation in homeland security, he added. The roundtable witnessed participation of key representatives from Indian defence and security companies along with the visiting Israeli delegation.

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