India and Israel share comfortable bilateral relations with both sides enjoying close cooperation in several areas, including defence and health.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday gave a telephonic call to Benjamin Netanyahu and congratulated him for assuming prime ministerial office for the record fifth time in Israel.

During the talks, as per a press note from the Prime Minister’s Office, Modi expressed confidence that the India-Israel partnership would continue to flourish under PM Netanyahu's leadership and guidance.

The two leaders also discussed the potential areas in which India and Israel could expand their cooperation in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, including research and development efforts in the fields of vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics.

They agreed to maintain the ongoing exchanges between expert teams of both countries, and also concurred that the fruits of such collaboration should be made available for the wider benefit of humanity.

As per the statement, the two leaders reviewed other important topics on the bilateral agenda, and agreed that the post-COVID world would create further avenues for mutually beneficial partnerships in many areas.

In particular, they assessed tremendous scope for expanding the already robust India-Israel collaboration in areas like health technology, agricultural innovation, defence-cooperation and information technology.

Both leaders agreed to remain in regular touch to share assessments and consult each other on the emerging opportunities and challenges in the changing global scenario.