External affairs minister S.M. Krishna arrived here on Monday on a two-day visit to Israel, the first by an Indian foreign minister in over a decade, that comes amid a lot of political turmoil in the West Asian region.
Mr Krishna drove down from Jordan via the Allenby Bridge border post, and was received by India’s ambassador Navtej Sarna and Israeli foreign ministry officials.
The last such visit had taken place in July 2000 when then external affairs minister Jaswant Singh had travelled here.
Mr Krishna met his Jordanian counterpart Nasser Judeh in Amman on Sunday. The Jordan visit comes soon after it played host to Israeli and Palestinian negotiators on January 3, the first talks in over a year. Sources noted that Jordan is crucial for India’s food security: it provides fertiliser inputs like rock phosphate, phosphoric acid and potash.
In Israel, Mr Krishna will meet President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, besides holding talks with deputy prime minister and foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman. A joint press conference is planned on Tuesday.