Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to inaugurate Raisina Dialogue on Tuesday

New Delhi: Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will on Tuesday inaugurate this year`s Raisina Dialogue, India`s flagship conference on geopolitics and geo-economics.

Organised by the Ministry of External Affairs and the Observer Research Foundation think tank, the theme of the Dialogue this year is `Managing Disruptive Transitions: Ideas, Institutions and Idioms`.

According to a statement issued by ORF on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and ORF chairman Sunjoy Joshi will also be part of the inaugural session.

Sushma Swaraj will deliver the Plenary Address on January 17 while Ministers of State for Foreign Affairs, MJ Akbar and V.K. Singh, will also address the delegates during the three-day event.

The other ministers taking part in the Dialogue include Union Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu, Textiles and Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha and Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri.

The chiefs of Army and Navy, General Bipin Rawat and Admiral Sunil Lanba, will also address the Dialogue, along with Admiral Harry Harris, Commander of the US Pacific Command, General Chris Deverell, Joint Forces Commander of Britain, Admiral Katsutoshi Kawano, Chief of Staf of the Joint Staff of Japan, and Vice Admiral Tim Barrett, Chief of Australian Navy.

Ministerial delegations from countries like Australia, Russia, Singapore, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Poland are also attending this year`s conference. 

Former President of Afghanistan 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.

Meanwhile, India and Israel on Monday pledged to fight terror as the two countries sought to broad base their relationship on the silver jubilee of the establishment of their diplomatic ties with Prime Minister Narendra Modi inviting Israeli companies to take advantage of the liberalised FDI regime in the defence sector and to make more in India.

The two countries also underlined the need for working towards Free Trade and Bilateral Investment treaties.

On the second day of his six-day visit to India, Netanyahu held talks with PM Modi, both one-on-one and delegation level, after which the two sides reached agreements in various fields including a Memorandum of Understanding on Cyber Security Cooperation.

Netanyahu showered praise on PM Modi saying he is a "revolutionary" leader who has catapulted India into the future. 

A joint statement issued later said the two Prime Ministers agreed that renewed efforts were required to realise the full potential for bilateral trade and investment and noted that the next round of bilateral discussions will be held next month in Israel.

The Prime Ministers urged the private sector to actively explore investment opportunities in both countries, including through India's flagship programmes such as Make in India, Start-Up India and Digital India.

(With IANS inputs)