Kenya - Address to Small Holdings Farmers
6 September 2009
FM LIBERMAN: Thank you. Honorable Minister of Water and Irrigation, Honorable Minister of Gender and Social Affairs, Ambassador Jacob Keidar, District Commissioner, distinguished ladies, dear guests, members of the Israeli delegation, I will also be very brief. I have spoken many times in the last two days, made a lot of speeches, and I will be very brief.
I want to say, first of all, it's really a great pleasure and honor for me to be here today with you courageous ladies with your initiative. We admire what we see here: your determination, your decision to take your destiny into your own hands. I think that this really is the best way to deal with drought, shortage of water, and social problems.
Today people speak about the global village. In the global village, everything affects everything. Of course during my visit I have been in many meetings at the highest levels. But when we speak about the global village, maybe the most important policy is not only the highest level, but also people to people, helping each other, understanding that we live in the same world. And we really must help each other and be ready to share our knowledge and experience with other people.
Israel is also a small country with big problems. First of all, our biggest problem since the beginning, like in Kenya, is the shortage of water. We resolved our problems with technology, with a very unique approach to the water problems. Today in Israel we are recycling 80% of our water for agriculture purposes. We're purifying wastewater, using 80% of it for agriculture. And we keep our drinking water for drinking.
We also established the biggest desalinization plant in the world. The whole city of Eilat only has desalinated water, and the same goes for Ashkelon: the biggest desalinization plant that Israel built. And we want to share with you our knowledge and our possibilities. We really appreciate and respect the people of Kenya, and we've had good ties and relations for many years.
In the beginning we also started with cooperatives – kibbutzim and moshavim. It's exactly like here: a kind of cooperation between people who want to deal with their problems together to provide a better future for themselves, their community, and their children.
We really want to support your initiative, and I wish you all the best. I am sure that all your efforts will be very successful in this experiment. Thank you very much.
Ghana-Israel Business Conference
7 September 2009
FM LIBERMAN: The Honorable Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ghana, The Honorable Minister of Public Culture, the Honorable Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Your Excellency, the Ambassadors and distinguished guests, it's really a privilege and honor for me to be here today. And I want to thank you twice, first of all for hosting our delegation and the second for Ghana being the first country in Africa to recognize our independence. And we've had very good relations for many years.
I think that this visit may be instrumental for our desire to improve and upgrade our relations. The people from my ministry are not so important for this. What is important is that a very big business delegation came with us from Israel. And we're happy to see such big interest on the part of the Israel business community in investments and possibilities for creating something in Ghana. This dialogue between the business communities might be the most important thing.
Today people try to resolve all the problems in the world, and it's a mistake. We have too many problems in North Korea, in Afghanistan, in Pakistan, in the Middle East. And I think that maybe it's better and more important to concentrate all our efforts on bilateral relations. Trying to help each other and resolve our bilateral problems might be the best way to bring some prosperity and stability to the world.
We are facing very similar problems: the climate change, the problems of management of water, agriculture, medicine. Israel is really a very successful country. We have know-how and we know how to deal with problems. We can bring very efficient solutions for agriculture, water management and education. We're ready to share our knowledge with you. And we came to give an example of how to cooperate, how to resolve problems and share the knowledge, and to move together toward a better future.
We really admire your country in one field; you’ve proved that you're much better and more successful than us in the World Cup. Congratulations to your football team. This is another part of our cooperation. We have enjoyed some very good players from Ghana in Israeli football leagues, and I hope that we can continue this fruitful cooperation from both our sides. Thank you very much. Good luck.
Nigeria
8 September 2009
FM LIBERMAN: Now we're in the middle of our policy review. According to this new policy, we are taking Africa much more seriously and we intend to be more and more active in the African continent. And of course a country like yours is a leading country in this region. You have the leading position in all of Africa; you are a very important country, and we hope to upgrade our relations.
I think that cooperation between our two countries can bring solutions to the three major problems: water management, food and agriculture, and health and medicine for the public sector.
I was also happy to see very strong, real interest from our business community in investing in Nigeria, and being active in creating some ties with your business community. Today we participated in a business forum that was very interesting, and we hope that we will see results from that as well.
Before this meeting, we met specially with the secretary who is responsible for the Pilgrim Movement. We really appreciate these thousands of very nice people who visit Israel every year. They're like a bridge between you and us, because not only the official level is important between countries but also people to people. And so many pilgrims are maybe the best bridge between two countries and two peoples, to better understand each other.
Tomorrow we're supposed to sign an agreement with ECOWAS, and we also appreciate your participation in the peace forces in many countries and conflicts around the world. We think that you have great influence on what happens in Africa and Arab countries in North Africa.
We enjoy your people who participate in our special education programs, MASHAV, and all these people with me, the head of our agency for international cooperation, and some people from our business community. And I hope that maybe we can start here with some specific projects with MASHAV in Nigeria.
Regarding the Middle East’s problems, I think that the biggest problem in the Middle East is not the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. I think we have a confrontation between moderates and extremists, regardless of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. We have a dialogue with the Palestinian Authority, we support the Palestinian Authority, and we are trying to strengthen their security forces. And Mahmoud Abbas’ biggest problem is not Israel, but Hamas and Jihad. And the biggest problem of the Hariri government in Lebanon is, of course, not Israel; it's Hizbullah. And the biggest problem in the Middle East is what we see in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Taliban. We are trying to create more understanding.
I think that people must keep themselves moderate and be open. Only with open minds can we achieve some solutions. Thank you.