S Jaishankar met Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar in Germany to discuss some issues

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met his Israeli counterpart Gideon Saar in Germany. They both had a discussion on several important matters, including the situation in West Asia and President Donald Trump's vision of connecting Asia, Europe, and America through Israel.

The two leaders met on Saturday on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, a leading global forum to discuss security-diplomatic matters. Jaishankar wrote on X, "It was a great pleasure to meet Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on the sidelines of #MSC2025. Views were exchanged on the current situation in West Asia/Middle East. The strength and importance of our bilateral partnership was underlined."

Israel attaches strategic importance to its relationship with India, a statement issued by the Israeli foreign minister's office said. They (Saar) discussed Trump's vision of connecting Asia, Europe, and the US through Israel, the statement said.

At a joint summit with Prime Minister Modi in Washington on Thursday, Trump revealed that the United States and India have agreed to work on building "one of the greatest trade corridors in history." "It would go from India to Israel, to Italy, to the United States, and bind together our partners with ports, rails, and all these underwater cables. It's a big milestone," he declared.

"It will cost us a lot of money, and we have actually incurred part of that cost but have to spend much more to remain in front of that curve and remain in front of that curve," he declared. There is already a project to interlink infrastructure from Europe to India through the Middle East. During the 2023 New Delhi G20 summit, the project was announced.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu then described it as the "largest cooperation project in our history" and said it would "change the face of the Middle East, Israel and impact the whole world." Jaishankar and Saar also talked about the challenges posed by attacks on trade routes by the Houthis and Iran, the Israeli statement said. During the recent conflict between Israel and Hamas, the Houthis have repeatedly attacked ships in the strategic Bab-al-Mandeb region, claiming they are targeting ships belonging to Israel.