Tel Aviv: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has arrived here on a three-day visit to Israel to explore possibilities of collaboration in various fields including agriculture and crisis management, where it has an expertise, and to attract investments in the state.
During his tour, his first as a chief minister, Fadnavis will also be a keynote speaker at a symposium on Indo-Israel collaboration for ‘Make in Maharashtra', to attract investment opportunities in the state. He arrived here late yesterday.
The chief minister will participate in Agritech Israel 2015, the 19th International Agricultural Technology Exhibition, one of the world's most important exhibitions in the field of agricultural technologies. The exhibition will be held here from April 28 to April 30.
He will also explore possibilities of collaboration with the Tel Aviv Municipality, focusing on emergency preparations and crisis management technologies, and with cancer hospitals. Fadnavis will hold meetings with heads of leading IT companies and firms, specialising in drip irrigation and will be visiting research institutes too.
During his trip, he will also be meeting Israeli Agriculture Minister Yair Shamir, senior officials from various ministries, including MATIMOP, the nodal government agency for research and development cooperation.
India is participating in a big way in the popular exhibition that has attracted global attention because of its display of sophisticated agricultural technology with Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma also expected to arrive here tomorrow with his delegation.
Among other states, Punjab, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Mizoram are also likely to be represented through officials and farmers, who are likely to gain from direct access to various technologies in use.
Israel has been a success story in the field of agriculture with the growth in agro-technology getting a big boost through remarkable cooperation between farmers, researchers and agriculture-related industries.
The cooperative efforts led to breakthrough achievements in all branches of agriculture here and have fostered a market-oriented agri-business that exports its agro-technology solutions all over the world.
The country has drawn global attention for its remarkable progress in innovating unique technologies in the field of irrigation, greenhouses, dairy farming, seeds, poultry farming, fertilisers and plant protection that has revolutionised the agriculture sector.
India and Israel have already been cooperating in a big way in the field of agriculture realising quite early the complementarity existing between the two countries in the field.
Some Israeli companies have set up research and development centres, manufacturing plants, and opened subsidiaries in India.
The discussions between Indian participants at the Agritech is also likely to focus on technologies related to minimising post-harvest wastage and water management technologies.
