Food and water security the focus of Israeli-Indian-Australian deal
Former Israeli President Shimon Peres has launched a special food and water security project as part of a trilateral cooperation with India and Australia. 
Announcing 'Creating a Second Green Revolution in India' on Nov. 7, Peres was concluding a three-day visit to India for talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The collaboration involves Pratt Industries, Australia, Ananta Aspen Centre, India, Tel Aviv University and the Peres Center for Peace. It aims to provide more food and clean water for both drinking and irrigation, as well as making India's food chain more efficient.
Jamshyd Godrej is chairman of the Ananta Centre, an independent non-profit organization seeking positive change in Indian society.
"The cooperation with Israel and Australia can further promote the green agriculture revolution declared by the Indian Prime Minister and today (Nov. 7) we are laying the corner stone on this important initiative in this respect," he said during the speech.
Peres added that Israel is a world leader in advanced agriculture and water solutions, and has adopted high-tech developments in the industry to rise above the country's lack of water and land.
"Israel’s lack of natural resources forced us to base our development on the only resource we had, the human resource," he said during his speech.
"Like Israel, India is also lacking of clean water and land and like Israel, not lacking the human resource.
"Our two countries share deep friendly relations and the goal of this project is to introduce better technologies to the wide agriculture sector of India. Together with our partners, we will do our utmost to bring the latest companies with the best technologies form the three partner countries in the field of water and food security for the benefit of the Indian farmers."
India and Israel are already engaged in a bilateral governmental agriculture cooperation with 28 official centers of excellence located around India which focus on certain fresh produce, carry out trials, educate farmers on growing techniques and how to maximize yields and produce consistent high-quality produce that can be supplied to the domestic and export markets.
