| Online: | |
| Visits: | |
| Stories: |
| Story Views | |
| Now: | |
| Last Hour: | |
| Last 24 Hours: | |
| Total: | |
PM Netanyahu Meets with German Chancellor Merkel at the PM’s Residence
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Meets with German Chancellor Angela Merke=
l =
at the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem
(Communicated by the Prime Minister’s Media Adviser)
Following are Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s and German Chancellor =
Angela Merkel’s remarks from last night (Monday, 24 February 2014):
Prime Minister Netanyahu: “Chancellor Merkel, Angela, welcome again to =
Israel, with your entire delegation. This is an important meeting. Israel =
and Germany have a unique bond forged of tragedy and hope, and a great =
friendship and cooperation.
I think that there are three main subjects that I would like to raise in =
this visit, and they relate to our two democracies=92 quest for security, =
peace and prosperity.
On security, I would like to discuss the ways to prevent Iran from getting =
nuclear weapons capability. I believe that this is the greatest challenge t=
o =
the security of the world.
On peace, I would like to discuss with you how we can advance the efforts t=
o =
achieve peace between Israel and the Palestinians. And I can assure you =
Angela, that the people of Israel want peace. They want a real peace; they =
want a peace that ends the conflict, that finally gets the Palestinians to =
recognize the Jewish state and one in which we have the necessary means of =
security to defend ourselves against any possible contingency in this =
turbulent Middle East.
And finally, on prosperity, you brought 16 members of your government here, =
which enables us to discuss the various ways in which Israel and Germany ca=
n =
further strengthen our cooperation in all the fields of economics, =
technology, and many, many other exchanges.
So we have a lot of work to do, and we=92re going to start this evening.
So, welcome to Jerusalem.=94
Chancellor Merkel: “Dear Benjamin, Prime Minister, allow me to say that I=
=92m =
delighted to be here again for this, the fifth German-Israeli =
inter-governmental consultations.
We have come here, as you rightly put it, with almost the whole of the new =
government, almost all of the ministers are represented. And we wanted to =
show you in this way that this is indeed a very strong friendship, which =
ties our two countries together, and a friendship that we want to continue =
to develop further.
We are here in order to discuss a very broad-based spectrum of different =
issues and we can discuss economic issues, we will discuss research and =
development, we will discuss exchanges, particularly, people-to-people =
exchanges, in particular, exchanges among the members of our young =
generation, and we will also obviously address current political issues.
We will also have an opportunity to discuss the preparations leading up to =
next year, to the year in which we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the =
German-Israeli diplomatic relations, these five decades of which unite our =
two countries show how long Germany has already tried to work =
shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel in order to secure the future of Israel.
Part and parcel of the secure future of Israel is obviously the two-state =
solution, for which the Federal Government has also been working =
assiduously: a Jewish State of Israel and alongside it, a Palestinian state=
. =
That is something on which interesting talks have already started and have =
been ongoing for quite some time and I’m very much looking forward to being =
able to address with you tonight this issue, yet again, because, as I said, =
we, as Federal Government very much support this concept, not only as a =
government, we want to see progress in this respect but I personally am als=
o =
championing this.
We will also, as you quite rightly said, discuss Iran. There’s quite a lot =
to discuss on this particular issue, so it is going to be an interesting =
evening with intensive talks and then we’re looking forward to tomorrow =
where we will be able to address together with members of both cabinets all =
other outstanding issues.”
________________________________________
IMRA – Independent Media Review and Analysis
Since 1992 providing news and analysis on the Middle East with a focus on A=
rab-Israeli relations
Website: www.imra.org.il
For free regular subscription:
Subscribe at no charge: [email protected]
Unsubscribe: [email protected]
For free daily digest subscription:
Subscribe at no charge: [email protected]
Unsubscribe: [email protected]
IMRA is now also on Twitter
http://twitter.com/IMRA_UPDATES
Source: http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=63298
