October 2007 Magazine

The Diplomatic Club October 2007 Magazine People Ramiro Cibrian Uzal: the head of EU delegation to Israel Middle East Digest No Longer Wanted Diplomatic Events editor The Diplomatic Club Magazine 84 Hashmonaim St. Tel-Aviv P.O. Box 20344, Tel-Aviv 61200, Israel 708 Third Avenue, 4th Floor, New York NY 10017, U.S.A Club Diplomatique de Geneva P.O. Box 228, Geneva, Switzerland Publisher The Diplomatic Club ltd. General Manager Julia Verdel Writers Barry Rubin Anthony J. Dennis Patricia e. Hemricourt, Israel Ira Moskowitz, Israel Bernard Marks, Israel Christopher Barder, UK Ilan Berman, U.S.A Reporters Neil Sandler Ksenia Svetlova Olga Tyomina Advertising Tel: 972-3-5622061/2 [email protected] Layout Irit Tal Accounting Roded Rinegold Legal Support Mati Simhovitz Law Office The Diplomatic Club Magazine Printed bi-monthly Tel: 972-3-5622061/2 Fax: 972-3-5620212 [email protected] www.diplomacy-club.com Content Arun K. Singh - Ambassador of India to Israel.............................4 No longer wanted.........................................................................................8 Diplomatic Events.........................................................................................12 On the cover: Bastille Day Celebration Italian Mentalscapes exhibition.......................................................14 The Diplomatic Club Magazine 3 people From India With Love Arun K. Singh Ambassador of India to Israel By Ksenia Svetlova At the opening night of Festival of India investing money in Israeli economy. in Israel the lobby of Eretz Israel museum "Indian companies are globalizing. In in Ramat Aviv was bustling with people 2006 Indian companies invested more who came here from different parts of outside then foreign investors invested Israel (and India) to enjoy the exotic in India" says Ambassador Singh. A first Odissi dance and the sound of a classical Indian bank, The State Bank of India, Indian sitar, to inhale the scents and one of the 100 largest banks in the world, aromas of India and to mark two has opened its doors at Israeli Diamond significant dates: 60-th anniversary of Center in Ramat Gan in 2006. "One of India's independence and 15-th the reasons for all this to happen is that anniversary of diplomatic relations there is natural complementarity between between India and Israel. In his opening the two countries. The population of speech Mr Arun K. Singh reminded the Israel is 7 million people, whereas in India audience, that there is actually a third we have 350 million e under the age of remarkable date worth mentioning and 15. Israel is good in products, in celebrating as well 150 years to the first technology whereas India excellent in war of Independence. After the formal research" he adds. part was over, a beautiful, graceful figure In 2005 India and Israel have signed an dressed in blue appeared on the scene. agreement to set up a joint industrial Kavita Dwibedi, one of the leading Research and Development (R&D) fund exponents of Odissi dance in India today to encourage investment and joint was not one, but hundred different people, ventures. Each side contributed US $1 who were happy, angry or in love, skillfully million each initially to provide risk-free using the language of the dance to they come back, they share their grants to entrepreneurs from both sides. communicate the message to the viewers. experience with the others, they relate During a meeting with union minister of In a second part Purbayan Chatterjee, a positively to this experience, therefore state for commerce and industry Ashwani talented sitar (traditional Indian plucked it's only natural that the interest in India Kumar this August, Israeli President string instrument) player, who is recipient and Indian culture will grow", the Shimon Peres lauded India as "a unique of a prestigious President of India Award, ambassador explains and adds that every example of a nation that has achieved charmed the audience with his time there is a cultural performance high economic growth consistent with performance, for a short moment bring organized by the Embassy, they are usually its cultural values". The two leaders said the breath of distant India to Tel-Aviv. met with great deal of interest and efforts should be made to fulfill the A few days later Indian Film Festival got excitement, since it reminds the people potential for enhanced economic off in cinemateques around the country of the country and its beauty. Yet, it's cooperation. Solar energy, water with a screening of 'Dosar', a movie that important to keep in mind that tourism technology, nanotechnology, agriculture, participated in a prestigious Hamburg and cultural ties are only one aspect of including organic farming, and medicine International Film Festival in Germany Israeli-Indian relations. It's hard to believe, were outlined as some of the key sectors last year. but in 1992, the year when full diplomatic for increased Indo-Israeli cooperation. Apparently, there are thousands of relations were first established between Although officially India-Israel devoted Bollywood fans in Israel, who the two countries, the bilateral trade relationship was launched in 1992 after crowded the cinemas to enjoy the latest summed up in roughly 200 million dollars. establishing full diplomatic ties, Jewish productions. All this craving for Indian Today, 15 years later it is estimated at 2.7 people have a long history in the country. culture in its different forms didn't come billion dollars! "We've come a long way Jews community in India exists for well as an surprise to the Ambassador of India since 1992", the Ambassador says, "during over a thousand years. Unlike many other to Israel, Mr Arun K. Singh, who tells these 15 years Israeli companies started countries, Jews have lived in India without that every time people learn that his is an to invest in IT, telecom , pharmaceuticals. any fear of persecution and enjoyed Ambassador of India to Israel , they tell In most major Indian cities you can find religious freedom. Until today there is a him that either son or daughter are Israeli companies. Now there is also a small community of approximately 6000 currently in India, just came back or growing interest in real estate and Jews who still live in India after the planning a trip. "Forty thousand Israelis infrastructure in the country". It also majority had immigrated to Israel during visit India each year. Many of them stay seems that recently Indian businessmen the 50-60. as much as 1 year or even more. When had "discovered" Israel and begun 4 The Diplomatic Club Magazine people people The two countries share not only common interests, but also common problems, namely terrorism. Speaking before the Republic of India American Jewish Committee in Washington in May 2003 Indian national India, officially the Republic of India, is a sovereign country in South Asia. security advisor, Brajesh Mishra, It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second most populous mentioned that Israel, and the United country, and the most populous democracy in the world.Bounded by the Indian States should unite to combat the Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal on common threat of Islamic the east, India has a coastline of over 7500 kilometres. It borders Pakistan to fundamentalism. He argued that the west;China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north-east; and Bangladesh and democratic nations that face the menace Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka, of international terrorism should form a Maldives, and Indonesia. "viable alliance" and develop multilateral mechanisms to counter this menace. Israel The name India is derived from Indus, which is derived from the Old Persian also supported this and has even gone to word Hindu, from Sanskrit Sindhu, the historic local appellation for the Indus the extent of saying that an "unwritten River. The ancient Greeks referred to the ancient Indians as Indoi, the people and abstract" axis with India and the of the Indus. The Constitution of India and common usage in various Indian United States has been created to combat languages also recognise Bharat an official name of equal status. Hindustan international terrorism and make the which is the Persian word for "Land of the Hindus" and historically referred world a more secure place. According to to northern India, is also occasionally used as a synonym for all of India. an article by Harsh V. Pant, published in Home to the Indus Valley civilization and a region of historic trade routes and Middle East Review of International vast empires, the Indian subcontinent was identified with its commercial and Affairs, "India and Israel not only cultural wealth for much of its long history. Four major world religions, exchange crucial intelligence information Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism originated here, while Islam, on Islamist terrorist groups but Israel is Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism arrived in the first millennium CE also helping India to fight terrorism in and shaped the region's variegated culture. Gradually annexed by the British Kashmir by providing important logistical East India Company from the early eighteenth century and colonised by the support such as specialized surveillance United Kingdom from the mid-nineteenth century, India became a modern equipment, cooperation in intelligence nation-state in 1947 after a struggle for independence that was marked by gathering, joint exercises, and cooperation widespread use of nonviolent resistance as a means of social protest. to stop money laundering and terror funding". Although India has become the world's fourth largest economy in purchasing Since 1992 the bilateral relations between power and the twelfth largest economy at market exchange rates, it has high the two countries had developed rapidly levels of poverty and illiteracy, persistent malnutrition, and environmental in many fields, bringing the two countries degradation.

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