Israel hopes to conclude free trade agreement with India this year, says Ambassador Azar

Israel’s ambassador to India, Reuven Azar, has expressed optimism about advancing bilateral ties, including progress on a free trade agreement (FTA). Speaking to WION’s Sidhant Sibal, Ambassador Azar confirmed that Israel and India have signed the terms of reference for FTA negotiations.

He said Israel planned to host an Indian delegation in February to address initial “low-hanging fruit” issues, with further rounds to tackle more complex matters. He anticipated concluding the agreement this year.

Azar highlighted worries about Hamas’s growing presence in South Asia, noting open-source reports of its representatives visiting Pakistan and Bangladesh since the October 7 attacks. He described engagements with local terrorist groups and officials as “very worrisome,” warning that radical elements might draw inspiration from such tactics, calling it a matter of mutual concern.

On the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), Azar emphasised Israel’s efforts to build logistics infrastructure to streamline trade and reduce merchandise costs. He was speaking to WION on the sidelines of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Here is the transcript of the interview:

Sidhant Sibal: International Holocaust Remembrance Day, if you can perhaps give your views and also how Israel is marking this day

Reuven Azar: For us, it’s the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, is very important for us to share with the world the memory of the Holocaust. It is a lesson we all must learn, how to prevent atrocities against humanities, not just against the Jewish people, who want that kind of atrocity of mass extermination, systematic extermination, as a result of hatred. We must act together. And I’m very encouraged by the fact that the Foreign Secretary, Vikram Misri, came and gave this strong statement about the responsibility of remembrance and also about the joint interest to fight against terrorism.

Sidhant Sibal: There is increased worry over Hamas presence in South Asia. Anything you would like to point out?

Reuven Azar: Well, we’ve seen in open sources that Hamas representatives, following the seventh of October, have been visiting both Pakistan and Bangladesh, engaging with terrorist organizations, with different government officials. We think that is very worrisome. Some of the radical elements are throwing inspiration, so-called, from the seventh of October, would like to imitate such tactics here. I think this is an issue of mutual concern.

Sidhant Sibal: So IMEC has been something that has been much talked about. Indian Foreign secretary said that the plans to host at ministerial level and at Summit level. Yesterday, the Indian ambassador met your minister as well. What’s your view about IMEC? What’s the progress like?

Reuven Azar: Well, we see that the increase in the economic activity in this country is going to generate a lot of movement of merchandise. We have a task force in Israel that is working on building the infrastructure necessary to deal with the logistics, because we want to streamline trade. We want to lower the price of moving merchandise, and that will, I think, generate economic prosperity for everybody. Of course, we have the hope that with Indian partnership, together with other countries, with United States leadership, will be able to streamline trade across several countries, that remains to be seen. But in the meantime, we have to do whatever we can, to help the private sector to move merchandise, and this is what we are doing.

Sidhant Sibal: You expect the Indian Prime Minister to travel to Israel. In fact, the Indian Foreign Secretary pointed out how India and Israel are partners. Very key statement from him.

Reuven Azar: Absolutely, this strategic partnership is developing into a special strategic partnership, and we want to solidify this relationship. We’ve been signing several agreements this year, including security MOU, another security agreement. We’re going to sign the bilateral investment treaty. We are advancing our free trade talks on financial cooperation. We are bringing infrastructure companies from India to Israel. We’ve doubled the number of Indian workers in Israel. So there’s a lot of activity. And I hope this will culminate in an important visit that we are expecting, coming from India. We extended the invitation to Prime Minister Modi to come, and we hope to see him soon.

Sidhant Sibal: We just signed an agreement with the European Union. There are talks with the Israeli side as well. What’s the level of conversation?

Reuven Azar: We have signed the terms of reference for the negotiations, and hopefully in February, we’re going to host here a delegation coming from Israel. We hope to finalize all the low hanging fruit issues during those talks, and then have another round for the more, let's say challenging issues. But all in all, we expect to finish this agreement this year.