"Strong Desire" To Finalise Free Trade Deal With India: Israel Minister
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Mr Cohen decided to cut short the trip hours after landing in New Delhi (File) Jerusalem: Israel is keen to finalise an FTA with India as there is a huge scope of trade between the two nations, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen has said, and expressed hope that the agreement will further strengthen bilateral economic ties. From a humble beginning of $200 million in bilateral trade (primarily in diamonds) in 1992 when full diplomatic relations were established between the two countries, merchandise trade has diversified and reached $7.86 billion (excluding defence) during the period 2021-2022. In addition, bilateral trade in services in 2021 was $1.1 billion and in FY 2022-23, bilateral merchandise trade from April to December 2022 stood at $8.09 billion (excluding defence). "The scope for trade opportunities between our countries is huge and there is a strong desire to finalise an FTA that hopefully will further strengthen our economic ties...I believe the scope of the FTA is...