First visit by an Israeli prime minister to India in September

An Indian diplomat in Jerusalem said yesterday that the Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon will pay a visit to India which is considered the first for an Israeli prime minister since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two sides in 1992.

The Indian diplomat added that the visit is mostly expected to be carried out by the beginning of September, noting that the date of the visit will be decided later.

On the other hand, an Israeli diplomat said that the director of the Indian space agency had visited Israel recently and discussed cooperation between the two sides in the field of satellite launching program amid Israeli press reports which said that India bought from Israel missiles, radar systems and machineguns.

The Israeli daily Haartez quoted last week the director of the Israeli space agency as saying that his country is developing three new satellites for collecting intelligence information.