Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping
(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, today (Tuesday, 21 March 2017), at the
official guest house in Beijing, met with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Prime Minister Netanyahu:

"It’s a pleasure to be here in Beijing again and to see you again, sir. I
want to thank you for the extraordinary hospitality you and your government
have shown me and my delegation, which includes four ministers.

We have signed many agreements, but I think that your decision to announce a
comprehensive innovation partnership between China and Israel is a
tremendously important decision, certainly for us in Israel, and I believe
through our cooperation, for China as well.

We admire China’s capabilities, its position on the world stage and in
history. We have always believed, as we discussed on my previous visit, that
Israel can be a partner, a junior partner, but a perfect partner for China
in the development of a variety of technologies that change the way we live,
how long we live, how healthy we live, the water we drink, the food we eat,
the milk that we drink – in every area.

There are vast and rapid changes in technology, which Israel excels in that
we believe that we could cooperate in.

We know that you have great scientists, great industrialists, great
capabilities, and we think that by working together we can make the future
better for our peoples, but also I think for humanity as a whole.

So in this regard, I want to thank you, not only for the friendship you have
shown Israel, but for the important strides we are making to make the world
a better place for all of us."

Prior to his meeting with the Chinese President, Prime Minister Netanyahu
and his wife Sara laid a wreath at the Monument to the People's Heroes in
Tiananmen Square. The Prime Minister then proceeded to the Great Hall of the
People where he met with National People's Congress Standing Committee
Chairman Zhang Dejiang and told him, "We have made great strides in the 25
years that we’ve had this friendship. We have come a long way on cooperation
about economic possibilities, about the betterment of life. And these are
all real things that are happening, and I think it’s a great message to our
people, but also to the people of the world."

Zhang Deijang said that while Israel's population is only eight million it
is a leading global force in technology.