POLITICAL RELATIONS
ISRAEL
1) Netanyahu congratulates India PM-elect Modi
New Delhi, Tuesday, 17 May 2014
Along with other heads of the governments, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, congratulated Narendra Modi for his party’s victory in the elections and said that he was “looking forward to work with Modi and enhance bilateral relations.”
Source: I24News, New Delhi; See Also: Ha’aretz, Tel Aviv

2) Modi keen to deepen ties with Israel: Netanyahu
Jerusalem, Wednesday, 18 May 2014
According to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, India’s prime minister-designate Narendra Modi has expressed his desire to “deepen and develop” ties with Israel.
Source: Business Standard, New Delhi; See Also: YnetNews, New Delhi

3) India’s new foreign minister a strong fan of Israel
New Delhi, Friday, 27 May 2014
Sushma Swaraj, India’s newly appointed foreign minister has in the past publically defended Israel against naysayers and is said to be a strong admirer of the late Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir.
Source: The Times of Israel, Jerusalem

4) With Narendra Modi as the new PM, India-Israel ties will improve, feels Alon Usphiz
New Delhi, Monday, 30 May 2014
Alon Usphiz, Israel's ambassador to India, shares a personal rapport with Modi. He spoke about this relationship and expectations regarding bilateral relations from the Modi government.
Source: Business Standard, New Delhi

SAUDI ARABIA
5) India, Saudi work on modalities for hiring domestic workers
Dubai, Sunday, 1 May 2014
India and Saudi Arabia discussed a legal framework for over 500,000 Indian domestic workers in the kingdom to solve any disputes between them and their employers. An Indian delegation headed by Ruolkhumlien Buhril, Protector General of Emigrants, arrived in Jeddah to discuss the legal formalities of the contractual mode for Indian domestic workers.
Source: Business Standard, New Delhi

ECONOMIC RELATIONS
SAUDI ARABIA
6) India to host multi-product catalogue show in Riyadh
Riyadh, Wednesday, 4 May 2014
India organized a multi-product catalogue exhibition of Indian companies from trade and industry sectors to showcase investment opportunities for Saudi businesses in the country. The one-day event would be on 7 May and would be one of the first commercial events organized by the Indian Embassy to provide Saudi businessmen and investors a "unique opportunity" to explore possibilities of setting up of joint ventures and doing business in the various sectors of India's trade and industry.
Source: Business Standard, New Delhi

CULTURAL RELATIONS
UAE
7) India-UAE friendship coffee-table book released in Arabic
Dubai, Thursday, 5 May 2014
A coffee table book that talks about solidarity, friendship, and harmony between India and the UAE was released in Arabic language. Venu Rajamony, former Consul General of India to UAE and currently Press Secretary to the President of India presented the book at a function.
Source: Business Standard, New Delhi

COMPILED BY MANJARI SINGH

Manjari Singh is a doctoral candidate in School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Email

As part of its editorial policy, the MEI@ND standardizes spelling and date formats to make the text uniformly accessible and stylistically consistent. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views/positions of the MEI@ND. Editor, MEI@ND: P R Kumaraswamy