International Relations
Diplomacy, conflicts, treaties.
India
From cautious recognition to a strategic partnership in defence, trade, agriculture and water.
Agriculture and water cooperation: India and Israel
India-Israel agricultural cooperation runs through a network of Centres of Excellence under MASHAV (Israel's foreign-aid agency) and the India-Israel Agricultural Action Plan, established by a May 2006 work plan. Coverage spans precision farming, drip irrigation, post-harvest handling and dairy. The framework expanded materially in 2026 with a new Innovation Centre for Agriculture, a fisheries and aquaculture Centre of Excellence, and an Indo-Israel Cyber Centre. Water-tech transfer runs in parallel.
Defence and security cooperation: India and Israel
India is Israel's single largest defence customer: 34 percent of Israeli arms exports between 2020 and 2024 went to India, worth approximately USD 20.5 billion. The relationship has moved from off-the-shelf purchases to co-development and co-production, formalised by a November 2025 MoU and an expected USD 8 to 10 billion of agreements during PM Modi's February 2026 visit. This piece sets out the structure.
A short history of India-Israel relations
India voted against the 1947 UN Partition Plan, recognised Israel in 1950, and waited 42 years before establishing full diplomatic relations in January 1992. The pace has accelerated sharply since: full embassies in 1992, the first Israeli PM visit in 2003, the first Indian PM visit in 2017, and elevation to a Special Strategic Partnership in November 2025. This piece traces the path.
India-Israel trade and the FTA
India-Israel bilateral merchandise trade reached USD 3.62 billion in FY 2024-25, well below the level the relationship's other indicators would suggest. A long-stalled Free Trade Agreement was unblocked in late 2025: Terms of Reference signed in November 2025, first round of negotiations concluded in New Delhi on 23 to 26 February 2026. This piece sets out the trade composition, the FTA negotiating frame, and the gap between the strategic and the commercial picture.
Multilateral & Diplomacy
Israel's diplomatic footprint, recognition battles, and new groupings like I2U2 and IMEC.
I2U2 and IMEC: India's two new architectures with Israel
Two new multilateral architectures connect India and Israel through the Arabian Peninsula. The I2U2 grouping (India, Israel, UAE, USA), formed in 2021, runs a working agenda across water, energy, transport, space, health and food security. The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), announced at the G20 in September 2023, plans a rail and shipping corridor from India through the Gulf and Israel to Europe. Construction began in April 2025; build-out remains uneven. This piece explains both.
Israel's diplomatic footprint: which countries recognise Israel
Israel has formal diplomatic relations with 163 countries as of February 2026, up from roughly 80 at the end of the Cold War. The map has been reshaped four times since 1948: by the post-1967 break with the Soviet bloc and much of Africa, by the post-1991 reopening that brought India, China and the former Eastern bloc, by the 2020 Abraham Accords, and by a partial Latin American contraction during the 2023 to 2025 Gaza war. This piece unpacks the headline number and the gaps that remain.
