Explained:What Palestine-India techno park says of relationship between the two countries

News:Recently,India has released the third tranche of funding worth $3 million for the construction of a Palestine-India Techno Park.

Facts:

About Palestine-India Techno Park:

• The Palestine-India Techno Park was established to create a business environment that will enable knowledge-based and creative enterprises as well as technology clusters to successfully operate locally, regionally and globally.
• The park will be located next to the Birzeit University Academic Campus, Palestine.
• The objectives of the park include (a)establishing an environment that is accessible to industry (b)supporting the process of commercialisation and industrialisation (c)supporting entrepreneurship and (d)bridging the knowledge gap between the private sector and academia.
• Once completed,the Technopark will serve as an IT hub in Palestine with complete IT facilities offering a one-stop solution to all IT-related service requirements, providing state-of-the-art technology.

India and Palestine Relations:

• In 1974,India became the first non-Arab state to recognise the Palestine Liberation Organisation(PLO) as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.
• In 1988, India was one of the first countries to recognise the state of Palestine after the Palestinian National Congress declared independence. 
• At that time,India maintained its support for the two-state solution and championed a sovereign, independent, united Palestine with its capital in East Jerusalem.
• In 1996,India opened its Representative Office to the State of Palestine in Gaza which was shifted to Ramallah in 2003. 
• In July 2017, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi became the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Palestine.
• The trade between India and Palestine stands at roughly US $40 million and spans automotive spare parts, medical tourism, agro-products, textiles, agro-chemicals and pharmaceuticals among others.
• Hence,India’s ties with Israel and Palestine have been more or less balanced.India fully established diplomatic relations with Israel in 1992. Defence and agriculture have formed the main pillars of India-Israel relationship.