Goa has Consulates of various countries including Portugal and Germany. Why didn’t Israel think of opening one in Goa and instead, proposed to have one in Bangalore from September 2012, especially since Goa has a number of Israeli nationals, coming here as tourists as well as settling down in the state?
I think an Israeli Consulate will happen in Goa in the future. As you know, we presently have only one operating Consulate in India, and that is in Mumbai. In fact, opening a Consulate has a lot of budgetary concerns. As you have mentioned, we are opening a Consulate in Bangalore and the main reason behind it is to provide business-related services. Anyway, as I said, Goa will also have an Israeli Consulate but it will not happen in the near future, looking at the way government functions. 
The former external affairs minister and senior Congress leader, Mr Eduardo Faleiro had recently observed that ‘enclave tourism’ by Russians and Israelis needs to be discouraged as it not only takes the local population for granted but also disrupts local culture and value systems…
Speaking about tourism, annually, on an average, 40,000 Israeli tourists arrive in India, out of which many come down to Goa to enjoy the Goan weather and the hospitality. However, I have never seen an Israeli enclave here. May be our tourists come in groups and love to be together while on holiday. I think that their grouping should not be taken in a bad way. Our tourists have no bad ideas. In fact, I was surprised to read this particular thing about our tourists. 
How do you react to the colonies set up in certain parts of Goa by Israelis, who are living here on a long-term Visa… It is also alleged that some of the Israelis in these colonies are bag-packers, many of whom have criminal records including drug trafficking…
As I have said, around 40,000 Israeli tourists visit India, annually. And I don’t deny that there could be some rotten apples in them. For that matter, tourists from any country could have such rotten apples. And such tourists may carry out not-so-positive things here. And in that case the local law will take care of them. However, not all 40,000 Israeli tourists should be considered as wrong people. May be one or two of them are wrong ones. And if our tourists make noise, then one should understand that they are just in holiday mood and have no wrong intentions. And I again maintain that I have not visited any Israeli enclave here in Goa. I feel that the whole issue is blown out of context. In fact, Israelis contribute to the Goan economy.
There seem to be many Visa problems for those who desire to visit Israel…
Everybody asks me this question but no one is specific on this aspect. I feel that this is clearly a perception. As 40,000 Israelis visit India every year, equal number of Indian tourists visit Israel, annually. And this is the largest number of tourists visiting Israel from any Asian country. In fact, the Consulate General of Israel in Mumbai is shortly opening a tourism office in Mumbai to encourage more people to visit Israel. It would be ironical that we want more people from India to come to Israel and at the same time deny Visas to them. At least 30 per cent of the Indian tourists visit Israel for pilgrimage. And then we have beautiful archeological sites as well as ultra-modern places including night life and shopping centres. If the Indian tourists are visiting Israel through travel agency, then the travel agent will procure Visas for them, and if the tourists visit individually, then also obtaining Visas is not an issue. In fact, our Mumbai Consulate has granted large number of Visas to the Indian tourists.     
How do you see the bilateral relations between India and Israel?
As a matter of fact, the bilateral relations between our two countries are developing well in all sectors. The relations between our two countries started developing 20 years ago, to be precise in 1992, and have grown over the years. In fact, the growth in the field of economics and trade has been phenomenal, with the bilateral trade, which stood at $ 180 million in 1992, has skyrocketed to more than $ 5 billion in 2011. In fact, the latest round of our trade negotiations was held with India just last week and the negotiations may reach the conclusion by end of 2012 or mid-2013. As per the research, after achieving the free trade agreement (FTA) with India, the annual bilateral trade may touch $ 12 billion or even $ 15 billion mark. And then there are many similarities between India and Israel; both are liberal democracies, both suffered war and terrorism and both having border problems. I am sure, there would be further growth in our bilateral relations.   
On trade and commerce front, what are the chances of investment from India in Israel, and vice versa? You can also tell us about the possible Israeli investment in Goa…
In general, one can see many examples of Indian investment in Israel. Jain Irrigation having major operations in Israel, and the Sun Pharmaceuticals investing in our country are two such major examples. From our side, there is investment in India in the real estate sector, and also Teva Pharmaceutical Industries going for a major plant in Gujarat. A number of business delegations from both the countries have also visited each other for potential trade and synergy in sectors like agriculture, water, home and security, IT, telecom and life sciences. We, in Israel, don’t have big power houses but definitely possess technology. And as for investment in Goa, I feel that there are very good prospects for investment in the field of bio-technology here. Then, investment in agriculture in Goa is also a possibility. 
And on the educational front can you tell us something about the possible educational exchange programmes?
There are Israeli students studying in India, but we desire such exchange in a big way through mutual co-operation and co-ordination. And so much can be done in the field of research and development at higher education level. In fact, Israel has two major educational programmes for India. Firstly, we grant 100 scholarships for students from India for post doctoral studies, and then there is a co-operation linked to exchange of scientists from the two countries to carry out R&D for three years, under a joint project, with a funding of $ 50 million for the three-year period.     
Coming to tourism sector, is there a possibility of starting Chartered flights between Israel and Goa?
Apart from opening a tourism office in Mumbai, we need carrier to carry people to and from Israel. One of the ways to achieve this is direct Chartered flights between Goa and Tel Aviv. It’s just a thought now. Hopefully, it will be a reality soon. This region is so close to lot of other regions resided by Christian population like Mangalore and Kerala. Direct Chartered flights can be of much use to the pilgrimage tourism in Israel for this population.
Finally, which areas of co-operation would you pin-point between Israel and Goa?
I, for one would point out co-operation in water sector. Your Chief Minister, in his presentation before the National Planning Commission had mentioned about sewage treatment and 24x7 water supply. Israel has expertise in recycling of water. In fact, we use 85 per cent of recycled water, with Spain standing second in the line using 19 per cent of the recycled water. We, in fact, use clean recycled water for agriculture. And then we can help in preventing water leakages between water reservoir to houses, as well as in security of water in the reservoir itself. We also have the largest desalination plant besides 30 smaller ones.
And then we can extend help to you in agricultural sector too. When the population of Israel was 6 lakh way back in 1948, we had 65 per cent of our people in farming profession, and now when the population has risen to 78 lakh, only 2.4 per cent of the people are farmers. Yet, we export a lot of what we produce, due to agro technology. We have agricultural agreement with India, and with the National Horticulture Mission, Delhi, decided to build centres of excellence for transfer of this agro technology. Today 28 such centres are in various stages of construction and operation, including two in Haryana and three in Maharashtra. Goa can also get benefit from such centres.​