(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara, along with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, today (Wednesday, 17 January 2018), visited the iCreate Centre for Entrepreneurship and Technology. Prime Minister Netanyahu met with young Indian entrepreneurs who presented innovate projects in the framework of a special exhibition in his honor. Also at iCreate are 36 startups, 18 from each country, that were chosen to participate in a unique "Bridge to Innovation" plan, the goal of which is to find joint responses to global water, agriculture and health challenges. The plan is pursuant to an Israeli government decision that was made approximately two weeks before Indian Prime Minister Modi's recent visit to Israel.
Prime Minister Netanyahu issued certificates to the 18 Indian startups; Indian Prime Minister Modi issued certificates to the 18 Israeli startups.Prime Minister Netanyahu also presented Prime Minister Modi with a Galmobile water purification vehicle.
Prime Minister Netanyahu:
"I'm delighted to be here at iCreate. The world knows about iPod, they know about iPad, well there's one more "I" that the world needs to know about – iCreate.
Prime Minister Modi founded iCreate when he was Chief Minister of Gujarat. He told me that he visited Israel, he saw the fermentation of ideas turning into innovation, turning into companies, changing the world. And he understood at once the transformative power of technology and young people. Technology and young people – that's the future.
Now Prime Minister Modi is changing India by the force and vision of his leadership. He is revolutionizing India, he is catapulting it into the future as one of the world's great powers. And he is doing it through the power of innovation.
Prime Minister Modi once said: "Each of us has a natural instinct to rise like a flame." Let's nurture that instinct. iCreate does exactly that. It takes a small flame of inspiration and it nurtures it into a roaring fire of ingenuity. So just to prove the point, having just walked there through this inspiring walk, talking to young men and women, seeing their creativity, seeing a young boy of 14 years old having a drone in the sky that will identify landmines and save so much suffering. Fourteen years old…he's kind of old. Amazing. So just to prove the point I'd like to ask the Indian entrepreneurs, men and women, who are here a question: Raise your hand if you are working on an idea that can change the world and make it better. Raise your hands. That's a lot of hands. A lot of hands.
This is the infectious optimism of the young. And as you all know, I'm sure you know this – Prime Minister Modi and I are both very young and very optimistic. We're young in our thinking and we're optimistic about the future.
At iCreate, entrepreneurs come together for mentoring and to raise funds for their ideas.
And I was happy to find that some of the iCreate staff are graduates of Israeli training programs. Now, this isn't the first time that Gujaratis and Israelis have come together. In 2001, following the terrible earthquake here, Israel sent field hospitals to help. More than a few Indian babies were born in those field hospitals. Who knows, maybe that young boy was one of them, and maybe some of the other babies are here with us today.
But our ties go back even further. One hundred years ago, some of the Indian soldiers who fell in the battle to liberate the city of Haifa were Gujaratis. We honor and cherish their memories. Thank you Gujarat.
Today, the visit of Prime Minister Modi to Israel, a historic visit, and my visit to India mark a new era of Israel-India cooperation. One of the areas we're most excited about is cooperation in technology and innovation. Prime Minister Modi is right when he says technology is central to development. He also rightly stresses – inclusive development. Inclusive development because all of us rise and fall together.
Half a year ago we launched the Israel-India innovation dream. The idea was simple: unite brilliant young Indians and brilliant young Israelis to help solve pressing global problems. Many entrepreneurs immediately recognized the potential of this idea. Over 600 companies applied to be part of the incubator. Several dozen were chosen but this is just a small sample of the scope of our cooperation.
So today I have a simple message: I want young Indians to know that Israel wants to form partnerships with you in technology, in water, in agriculture, in cyber, in drones, in health, in life sciences, in every field we are your partners.
I want young Israelis to come to India not just with a backpack but with a laptop.
This is a century of boundless potential and that's why I've come here – to encourage young innovators from our two countries to work together.
I thank Prime Minister Modi for his vision and for his friendship and for recognizing the immense potential of our partnership.
I shall always be honored, and I shall always treasure the moment that you decided to inaugurate this visionary center on my visit, on the visit of the Prime Minister of Israel.
Jai Hind, Jai Bharat, Jai Israel
Thank you, Prime Minister Modi. Thank you all."