NEW YORK: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a New York hotel and pledged to “boost cooperation in the most substantive interaction between the two countries’ leaders in 11 years”.

Mr Netanyahu said that he was ‘delighted’ to meet Mr Modi and invited him to visit Israel, in what would be a first for an Indian prime minister.

“I believe that if we work together, we can do so with benefits for both our peoples and well beyond,” he said.

“We are very excited by the prospects of greater and greater ties with India. We think the sky’s the limit,” Netanyahu said, describing the countries as “ancient civilisations” that are also democracies.

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2014