Israel, India share similarities of creativity, terrorism'

Mangalore, July 31: A common factor in India and Israel is that people of both countries possess an innovative approach, said Orna Sagiv, Consul General of Israel.

She was delivering a talk on Indo-Israel trade relations at the Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mangalore, on Tuesday.

Innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship ability are three things that Israeli people possess in abundance and all three qualities are found in Indians too, she said. “From Tatas to the dabba wallahs of Bombay, I found great entreprenership ability in Indians”, she said.

Stating that innovations such as mobile phone technology, pen drive data storage and several other innovations have come from Israel, Ms Sagiv said that although a small nation, her country has produced six Nobel prize winners in the field of science alone.

Stating that foreign companies can cost effectively sonduct cutting edge research in Israel, Ms. Sagiv said that IT majors such as Infosys and ICS have growing presence in Israel.

Terming Israel's economic journey over the years as a 'success story', Ms. Sagiv said that in its initial years Israel could not even feed its people completely. “In 1948, Israel had a population of 6 lakh, 65% of them being farmers, but it could not feed all the people. Today, the country has a population almost close to 8 million, with only 2.5% of the people involved in farming but our production is such that we even export our produce. The reason is our technology and scientific approach”, she said.

Ms. Sagiv said that there is a need to ensure security of food, water and energy for the future. “Although we have limited water resources and just one sweet water lake, Israel is No.1 in the world when it comes to water solutions. We have the technology to recycle water and each and every child in Israel is taught to save water”, she said.

'Terrorism is common problem of India, Israel'

Ms. Sagiv said that India and Israel have many things in common and the problem of terrorism is one too.

“The Jewish and the Indian people have many similarities. Our countries have long histories. We both are democracies and true democracies as we uphold the values of human life and freedom of speech. The problem of terrorism from our respective neighbours is also a common hurdle we face”, she said.