Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday inaugurated the third edition of Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj were also present during the ceremony.
The three-day long geo-political conference has an impressive line-up of more than 150 speakers and over 550 delegates.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, the Israel PM said praised his counterpart Modi for increasing India's stature in global business community at a rapid pace.
"I was astounded to know that PM Modi has moved India in the scale of ease of doing business 42 places in three years," Netanyahu said.
"The weak don not survive, the strong survive, you make alliances with the strong, you are able to maintain peace by being strong. So, therefore the first requirement from our the time of our first PM was to achieve minimal strength required to assure existence," he added.
The Israel PM insisted that to be an economic power a nation must reduce and simplify taxes and must cut bureaucracy. "The main job of both India and Israel is to cut this bureaucracy so the firms can go on with their business of doing business," he said.
The Raisina Dialogue, jointly organised by the Ministry of External Affairs and Observer Research Foundation (ORF), is being held at the Taj Palace Hotel in the national capital, the organisers said in a statement.
The theme of the dialogue this year is ‘Managing Disruptive Transitions: Ideas, Institutions and Idioms’, it said.
Here are the LIVE Updates:
08:00 pm: PM to receive Israel PM Netanyahu & his wife Sara Netanyahu in Gujarat tomorrow. Both PMs to inaugurate iCreate Center at Deo Dholera Village in Ahmedabad. They'll also dedicate a mobile water desalination van to Suigam Taluka, of Banaskantha district, via video link.
07:15 pm: PM Natanyahu's visit to India underlines the celebration of 25 years of diplomatic relations between India and Israel: EAM Sushma Swaraj
07:14 pm: The alliance of democracies is important to secure our common future, I believe possibilities are endless. In this visit, we have discussed how we can strengthen our two nations in civilian, security and in every area: Israel PM Netanyahu in Delhi
07:12 pm: Democracies bind and connect to each other in natural ways. I saw sympathy and friendship of people. When I walked in streets of India, just like in Agra, someone said to me, we are so happy that you are friends with our PM, we are friends with you & Israel: PM Netanyahu
07:10 pm: India is one of world's most populous democracies,it's place that shows humanity can be governed with freedom that we can secure rights of people,ability to think,speak&believe what we want,society is pluralistic and diverse free,like Israel.Democracy is most imp value: Israel PM
07:08 pm: If you want to be an economic power, you must reduce and simplify taxes and must cut bureaucracy. The main job of both India and Israel is to cut this bureaucracy so the firms can go on with their business of doing business: Israel PM
07:05 pm: I was astounded to know that PM Modi has moved India in the scale of ease of doing business 42 places in three years: Israel PM
07:00 pm: The weak don't survive, the strong survive, you make alliances with the strong, you are able to maintain peace by being strong. So, therefore the first requirement from our the time of our first PM was to achieve minimal strength required to assure existence: Israel PM Netanyahu
Army chief General Bipin Rawat and Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba will also address a session, along with Admiral Harry Harris, Commander, US Pacific Command, General Chris Deverell, Joint Forces Commander, UK, among others, the statement said.
“Former Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai, former prime minister of Canada Stephen Harder and former prime minister of Sweden Carl Bildt are among more than 150 speakers and over 550 delegates from around 90 countries who are participating in the dialogue,” it said.
Netanyahu arrived in India on Sunday on a six-day visit.
