jerusalem india and israel on thursday signed a cultural agreement that outlines a threeyear programme of cooperation to further strengthen their strategic bilateral relations by promoting greater peopletopeople exchangesthe agreement was signed between israels foreign minister gabi ashkenazi and indias ambassador to israel sanjeev singla at the foreign ministry hereboth sides are convinced that this cooperation shall contribute to the development of their relations and to raising awareness particularly among youth of the history and culture of the people of both countries and agree to promote cooperation in order to improve and strengthen mutual understanding and friendship between the two countries the agreement statesthe cultural agreement with india is one of a series of agreements we have and it will be followed by the signing of a water agreement by our ambassador in india i am very excited to say that we are working on a mutual film production with the famous bollywood industry of india ashkenazi saidisraels ambassador to india ron malka signed an agreement with the state of uttar pradesh earlier on thursday to cooperate in the field of water utility on the indoisrael bundelkhand water projectthe strategic relationship between india and israel is on a qualitatively different trajectory since the historic visit of prime minister narendra modi to israel three years ago in july 2017 the agreement will give further impetus to enhance peopletopeople relations ambassador singla said after signing the agreementthis programme of cooperation between the two countries for the years 202023 is based on the cultural agreement signed between them on may 18 1993 a little more than a year after they established fullfledged diplomatic relationsthe major areas of cooperation identified to promote cultural ties include the exchange of culture and art experts encouraging cooperation in the protection of cultural heritage and archaeology with the help of israel antiquities authority iia and archaeological survey of india asi and organising literary fests and book fairs while promoting the translation of famous works in each others languagesit also includes student exchanges through scholarships encouraging the participation of films and filmmakers in each others international film festivals devising youth exchange programmes and encouraging sportsrelated interaction among youththe two sides have agreed to encourage the exchange of culture and art experts performing arts festivals plastic arts photography and design architecture museums and exhibitions music dance dance and theatre by enabling annual visits of experts artists producers and curatorsboth the countries will be also working jointly to promote the translation of contemporary prose poetry and other literary works into the languages of the other side besides supporting the participation of poets and writers in festivals and literary eventsit has also been agreed to encourage direct contacts between book publishers and national librariescooperation in cinema and audiovisual has been given significant emphasis with both the countries working towards a coproduction that was agreed upon during israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahus visit to india in 2018the agreement encourages the participation of films and filmmakers in each others international film festivalsthe sides shall