Shambhu S Kumaran, Joint Secretary (Planning & International Cooperation), Ministry of Defence, Government of India, emphasised that there is a great degree of trust between the two countries and said that there are growing concerns of cyber threats, which is one of the areas where India and Israel could collaborate.

He mentioned that security trade has a lot of complex legal issues and have trade restrictions; hence there is a need for greater engagement and collaboration by jointly leveraging markets which could not be accessed individually.

"In India defence production is set to shift from public sector to private companies and offset programme of the country is also taking shape with a target of US$10 billion in next 5 years," he observed.

Reacting to the issue of procurement in homeland security raised by Israeli delegation, Rajan Luthra, Co-Chair, FICCI Committee on Homeland Security, said that FICCI is working towards the policy of public procurement in security to ensure transparency and standardization.

Cmde. Sujeet Samaddar, NM (Retd), Hony. Advisor-Defence & Aerospace, FICCI, said that the defence sector will throw up an opportunity worth over US$ 250 billion in the next 10-15 years.

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