India

   India recognized Israel on 18 September1950 but established full diplomatic relations only on 29 January 1992. Israel had opened a consulate in Bombay in the early 1950s, but its functions and jurisdiction were extremely limited. Ezer Weizman became the first Israeli president to visit India in 1996. Since the 1990s, India and Israel have developed increasingly strong bonds of friendship that are reflected in commercial and military trade and in the sharing of strategic intelligence against global terrorism. The annual trade between Israel and India was $2.5 billion in 2004. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon visited India in September 2003, the first by a sitting prime minister since Israel and India established diplomatic relations in 1992. On 21 June 2008, Israel launched a sophisticated reconnaissance satellite atop an Indian missile from a launch site in India. The launch is viewed as an expression of the growing cooperation between Israel and India in the security spheres as a whole, and in particular in the fields of missiles, radar, and satellites. While control of the TECSAR satellite, manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries, will be in Israel's hands, Indian media reported that Israel will provide India access to some of the reconnaissance data.

   See also Foreign Policy; Foreign Trade; Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI).