Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday said that technology and young people are the future and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is changing India by revolutionising the country as one of the world's great powers.
Netanyahu said, "I am delighted to be here. The world knows about iPads and iPods, there is one more 'i' that the world needs to know about, that is iCreate."
Netanyahu was speaking at a function at Bavla, about 34 kilometres away from Ahmedabad, where he and Modi inaugurated iCreate. Established as an autonomous centre of excellence, the International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Technology has come up in a 34-acre campus.
The centre will facilitate new age entrepreneurial pursuits of youth that will focus on innovative application for wealth generation, employment creation and global competition.
Benjamin said, “Let us rise like a flame and iCreate does that.” He appreciated the “infectious optimism of the young” that an idea can change the world. He said that both Modi and he were optimistic and young in thinking, and that he was very excited about the countries' cooperation in technology and innovation.
Netanyahu and Modi also inaugurated a facility of mobile water treatment in the remote village of Suigam in the border district of Banaskantha. Gifted to India by Israel, the mobile treatment vehicle has a capacity to treat 20,000 litres of sea water in a day. Resistant to all weather conditions, the vehicle can treat water from any water source as per WHO standards.
Modi said that the water purifying technology would help BSF jawans get potable drinking water.
Netanyahu ended his speech by chanting “Jai Hind, Jai Bharat, Jai Israel.”
Modi pointed out in his speech that Israel proved that it was not the size of the country, but the determination of the people that enables it to rise.
"When I launched iCreate a few years ago, I said I want to link it with Israel. My motive was that this institution and our youth are benefited by Israel's experience and their startup environment,” Modi said.
The prime minister said that a lot of cooperation between the two countries can happen in water conservation, agriculture production, food processing, cyber security and a host of other fields.
If the energy and enthusiasm of youth is given encouragement and institutional support, the results would be bigger, said Modi.
He said that the Centre is making efforts to make the entire system in the country innovation-friendly, which would, in the end, lead to the formation of a 'New India'.
"Never stop dreaming and never let the dreams die. It is good for children to have high curiosity quotient", he continued.
Benjamin and his wife Sara are on a day-long visit to Gujarat. Earlier in the day, they had visited the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad.
(With ANI inputs)
