New Delhi, Nov 8: Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil today met his Israeli counterpart Meir Sheetrit, and discussed several bilateral issues with him.

Sheetrit, who is on a two-day visit to India, will attend the second Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction that began today.

Over 50 countries from the Asia and Pacific Regions are participating in the conference.

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh while inaugurating the conference on Wednesday had described terrorism as one of the disasters that required a collective effort by the countries to tackle it.

Since establishment of diplomatic relations in 1992, Indo-Israel bilateral and trade and economic relations have progressed commercial rapidly. From a base of 200 million dollars comprising primarily of diamonds in 1992, merchandise trade has diversified and increased rapidly reaching 1,594.1 million dollars in 2003.

With the exception of 1995 and 2001, trade volumes have grown every year. While diamonds constitute about 65 per cent of India's exports to Israel, other major products are textiles, chemicals, rubber and plastic products, machinery, base metals, prepared foodstuffs and transport equipment.

Major items exported by Israel are diamonds, machinery, chemical products and optical, medical and other equipment.

The defence ties between the two countries are also at an all time high with Israel emerging as India's one of the biggest defence suppliers. (ANI)