The new Israel ambassador to New Delhi, Naor Gilon has said, “Cooperation is never against something, it is always for something,” during this his first interaction with the media.
As per the protocol, Gilon presented his credentials to President Ram Nath Kovind yesterday (October 28), and was very optimistic about the formation of the new Quad, with the US, India, Israel, and the UAE as the four members which have now been dubbed as West Asia Quad.
Gilon said that things have improved a lot after the diplomatic recognition by the UAE, but there is still a serious threat posed by Iran and its nuclear ambition. He said anti-Iran sentiments is one of the most important factors binding the US, Israel, and the UAE.
In his interaction with Indian media, Gilon also said Israel perceived Iran as a “real threat” with its nuclear capability and extremist ideology and his country take these threats seriously.
However, India has strong multilateral ties with Iran and has vested interests in the Chabahar port in Iran developed by India as an important infrastructural project for both countries to access not just Afghanistan and the untapped markets of Central Asia as part of the grand International North-South Transit Corridor.
But during the Trump presidency, India was compelled to stop imports of crude oil from Iran, which caused stress in ties. But it is not all India’s fault because Iran for years dragged its feet in this project and now Tehran is slowly easing India out of infrastructural projects.
There is growing resistance to developing the rail line from Chabahar to Zahedan or a stake in the Farzad-B gas field, which was discovered by India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).
This is why many see the new West Asia quad as a much-needed synergy between the four countries as this grouping can have a serious impact on economic and infrastructural development in this region
Gilon said we must facilitate company-to-company cooperation in these areas, rather than at the government-to-government level which was a clear indication of red tape.
India and the Israeli military right now are participating in the Blue Flag exercise in Israel, and the UAE is an observer but has also sent its soldiers to be part of the exercise.
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