Statements by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Georgian Prime Minister
Bidzina Ivanishvili

(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina
Ivanishvili, this morning (Tuesday, 25 June 2013), made the following
statements at the start of their meeting:

Prime Minister Netanyahu: "Prime Minister Ivanishvili, it's a pleasure to
welcome you here in Jerusalem. I've been looking forward to our meeting.
It will be an important step in continuing the great relationship between
Georgia and Israel. We want to expand this relationship in every way – in
trade, in agriculture, in cultural exchanges, and I would say strengthening
and building on the human bridge between our two societies. We have a very
proud community of Jews that came from Georgia, that have been there for
thousands of years, and in addition, we have the modern states that have a
deep and instinctive friendship between us.

We all want to see security and stability and peace in our area, and there
are great challenges that come from Iran and from many other convulsions in
our area. I look forward to talking to you about that as well.

And our fervent hope is for peace, a genuine peace that can be achieved only
through direct negotiations without preconditions. We're ready to enter
such negotiations. I hope the Palestinians are too. And I have to say that
our goal is not just to enter and put a 'V' [check the box] to show that
we've begun negotiations. Our goal is to persist in the negotiations, to
engage in them consistently over a serious period of time in order to try to
grapple with all the issues and come to an agreement that resolves the
fundamental issues in the conflict.

This will require time and determination and a systematic approach and I
hope that this is what the Palestinians will have. That's our approach. I
hope it's theirs too.

In any case, I look forward to discuss this and all the other issues between
us, and I welcome you again, Prime Minister, to Jerusalem. Welcome."

Georgian Prime Minister Ivanishvili: "Thank you, thank you very much.

I've not had the opportunity to be able to pay an official visit to our
friendly country. I would like to extend my sincere gratitude for inviting
me to pay a visit to your country. You are quite well aware that the
friendship between the Georgian and the Jewish people lasted for many
centuries. We are obliged to live up to this friendship and to the
centuries-old cooperation and friendship between our nations, and we have to
establish ideal relations between our two countries.

We really and genuinely love and appreciate the Jewish people and the State
of Israel, and our country and our people are doing their best to make sure
that our cooperation will reach this upper level and of course we stand
ready to share the very vast experience you have in many fields, especially
when it comes to agriculture and others. We stand ready to cooperate within
the framework of an intergovernmental commission and also if there will be
mutual will and readiness; we are going to further deepen trade relations
between our two countries and to sign the relevant documents in this regard.

And of course, the issue of the fight against terrorism is a matter of
paramount importance, and Israel has been fighting against this phenomenon
for many centuries and Israel is the very country that deserves real and
lasting peace. We'll try and do our best to continue cooperation and
negotiations with the Prime Minister of Israel on the issues of the economy
and I think we will manage and we will be successful in terms of further
deepening and strengthening our cooperation.

Thanks again."