NEW DELHI, Feb 9: Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom arrived here on Monday for talks expected to cover the imminent signing of a major deal to sell airborne Phalcon radars to India, official sources said.

A government statement, however, merely said that Mr Shalom had come at the invitation of Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha with a five-member delegation. He will visit Mumbai also.

On Tuesday, the two ministers will hold discussions on "bilateral issues as well as matters of common concern", the official statement said. "India and Israel are two ancient civilizations and modern democracies," the statement said. India recognized the state of Israel in September 1950 and established diplomatic relations in May 1992.

"During the last decade, the two countries have developed a close synergy across a wide front," the statement said. The bilateral trade has increased nearly 11-fold from $142 million in 1991 to $1.6 billion in 2003. There has been similar growth in cooperation in other areas such as science and technology, defence, culture and people-to-people contacts.

"Mr Shalom's visit is expected to contribute immensely to this ongoing process of consolidation of bilateral relations," the Indian statement said.