Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to meet PM Narendra Modi & hold delegation level talks today

Netanyahu is the first Israeli Prime Minister to visit India since Ariel Sharon came in 2003.

Image: PM Benjamin Netanyahu and PM Narendra Modi/Twitter

New Delhi: Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu will meet PM Narendra Modi on Monday, hold delegation level talks and sign agreements. A statement after that will also be released. On Sunday, Breaking protocol, Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally went to the airport and received his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu who arrived here on a six-day visit to India. Modi greeted Netanyahu with a warm hug and shook hands with his wife Sara. Netanyahu is the first Israeli Prime Minister to visit India since Ariel Sharon came in 2003. Netanyahu will also visit Gujarat and Mumbai. Meanwhile, not disheartened by India's vote against Israel at the UN General Assembly on the issue of Jerusalem, Netanyahu has expressed hope that bilateral ties would receive a further boost during his milestone visit to the country. India in December voted in favour of the UN General Assembly resolution condemning the US for its decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Netanyahu said: "Well I would have preferred a different vote to be frank but I don't think it materially changes the tremendous flowering of relations between India and Israel". Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also visited the Jewish state in July,becoming the first Indian premier to do so. (With agency inputs)