On Wednesday, 22nd February 2023, Israel’s ambassador to India Naor Gilon said that Israel handing over the Haifa port to the Adani Group is a reflection of the trust it has in India. Gilon said that the Adani Group has the potential to make the Haifa port the port it needs to be.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Naor Gilon said, “We want our friends to remain close to us. We feel very comfortable with India. As I said before, Indian-controlled ports in Israel are something that we’re welcoming.”
Naor Gilon added, “It was a very important move from our point of view because Haifa Port is our strategic asset. Adani Group has the potential to make the Haifa Port the port it needs to be and to increase trade between Israel and India.”
He further said, “The fact that we are giving to an Indian company, I think from our point of view, it is a symbolic or sign of deep trust of handing the strategic asset in an Indian group.”
Talking more about Indian companies he said, “Adani Group is looking for more projects in Israel. We have about 80 joint ventures with Indian companies, including TATA, Kalyani, and BHEL. Ports are the core business of the Adani Group. I see ports working very well. Adani Group is looking for more projects in Israel & I hope they succeed.”
About the Center of Excellence jointly started by India and Israel, he said, “We have completed 30 years of full diplomatic relations and recently just inaugurated the Centre of Excellence in agriculture. We have in the pipeline 10 CoEs more and we have more in the pipeline. There is one in Karnal in Haryana. These CoEs are doing a wonderful job of outreaching farmers by giving them technologies that can be adapted to their capacity. These lower-end technologies are lower in cost.”
On Thursday 14th July 2022, the finance ministry of Israel announced that India’s Adani Ports and Israel’s Chemical company Gadot have won a tender for the privatization of the port of Haifa. Haifa is one of the largest seaports in Israel. The consortium that bid for the port consists of the Israeli company Gadot (70%) and the Indian Adani group (30%). The Adani Group paid USD 1.2 billion for the important Israeli port of Haifa and promised to reshape the skyline of this Mediterranean city as part of its plan to invest further in the Jewish nation, including the establishment of an artificial intelligence lab in Tel Aviv.
