Bhopal: A proposal to set up two centres of excellence, one in floriculture and another in citrus fruits, in Madhya Pradesh with the cooperation of Israel is awaiting the Centre’s green-signal. While talking to media persons here on Thursday, Israel Consul General in Mumbai Yaakov Finkelstein told, India and Israel are working on to strengthen the partnership and cooperation in the fields of agriculture and water. As part of these efforts, two more agriculture learning and training centres are planned in Madhya Pradesh. I hope this will do wonders in the farm sector.
He said these centres are proposed in Sehore and Shajapur districts of the state. In Sehore district, a centre for floriculture is planned while a learning centre for oranges is proposed in Shajapur, said the envoy. He said a proposal in this regard is currently pending with the Centre. “Israeli expertise and technology would be shared with farmers at these two centres,” Finkelstein said, adding that 20 such centres are already functioning in India whereas 28 such centres are being set up.
Madhya Pradesh being the heart of India needs to be connected with Israel, he said. The counsel general further said the cooperation between the two countries got a boost after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu visited each others countries.
“The Indo-Israel cooperation in fields like smart city development, innovative technologies etc. is on the rise after the biggest-ever business delegation from Israel visited India along with Netanyahu,” he said. Earlier in the day, Finkelstein paid a courtesy visit to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.