​(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Foreign Media Adviser)
 
Following are Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's remarks at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting today (Sunday, 13 February 2022):
 
"We have a special guest today, OECD Secretary General Mathias Cormann.
 
“The Israeli economy is strong. Even in the year in which there were two coronavirus waves, we are in extraordinary almost 7% growth, thanks to our insistence on maintaining an open economy. Our high growth 'open Israel' policy has enabled us to raise soldiers' salaries, look after the elderly and ease measures for working families, by reducing taxes. This is the fair contract: Israelis who go to work will be left with more available income at the end of the month. We will take less taxes from them.
 
“Reducing taxes is important and will direct income toward consumption. However, at the same time, prices in Israel need to come down. For decades, the Israeli economy has suffered from measures that inhibit competition, from all kinds of stunts that were designed to protect certain groups and prevent healthy competition that would ease the cost of living for most of the public.
 
“Our goal is to open up. While this takes time, persuasion and the finding of solutions, most of the public expects us to do it, backs us and expects to see results.
 
“We do not know what the developments will be between Russia and Ukraine. Like the rest of the world, we hope that the tension will end without escalation; however, our primary obligation is to look after our Israeli citizens. Therefore, over Shabbat, the Foreign Minister and I and our teams took care to greatly increase the pace of flights to Israel and from here I again call on Israelis in Ukraine: Return home. Do not take unnecessary risks. Do not wait for a situation in which you will very much want to return but will be unable to do so. Be responsible for your lives and leave Ukraine as quickly as possible and come home.
 
[English]
 
“On behalf of the Israeli government, I’m happy to welcome you, Secretary-General of the OECD, Mathias Cormann, and your very distinguished delegation.
 
“Israel’s economy is on a good track. We’re recovering from the latest Covid wave remarkably well with rapid growth as you're well aware of. This has to do with our decision to keep Israel's economy open throughout the fourth and fifth wave, while diligently fighting the virus. So we're not on any extreme; we know the virus is much more than just flu but on the other hand, we're not in hysteria that we need to close everything.
 
“We've formed our model which is many, many small actions to allow the economy and the conditions for parents to go to work, for children to go to school, for shops to remain open and for life to go on. The result of all of these actions is the remarkable growth that we were talking about last night.
 
“Israel has got several growth engines. First and foremost, our fantastic hi-tech sector but also our decision to release tens of thousands of young Haredi men into the work force. And we're going to have to embrace them and that will be a huge engine because these folks are really smart and when they are injected into the hi-tech sectors and others, we're going to see a huge boost. The new bridges we’re building in the region—with the Emirates and others— I see this as another engine. A further engine is integrating the Arab sector—the young Arab men and women—into Israel's economy.
 
“By and large, the trajectory is good. It's taking time but it's good. We're seeing modernization, better education, but we have a long way to go. If I were an investor, I would definitely invest in Israel.
 
“But we also have a fair share of challenges. We've got to reform the stagnant parts of our economy and we need to increase competition. We don't have enough domestic competition and that's something that's always tough because there is always a good reason on why you need to slow down on that. And we need to have the courage to take these actions.
 
“This is a very unique government. It's no secret that we're a coalition of eight different parties. The most diverse coalition in Israel's history and we're darn proud of it. We've got religious and secular; we've got Jews and Arabs; we've got right and left. And in a very polarized world today, where you see other countries that are paralyzed because of this polarization, Israel is showing an example of how folks with very different ideas, here around this table, can get together to build a much better future for Israel while working through the disagreements.
 
“I'm looking very much forward to our discussions with your distinguished group and yourself and I'm sure it's going to be a very successful visit."