Transcription

 

I want to welcome you, my good friends, Prime Minister Borissov, Boyko, and your delegation, to Israel. This is our second Government to Government meeting. It expresses a real friendship. Now that friendship was there before we began these series of meetings, because we have a human bridge in the many Jews who came from Bulgaria and the example of courage and principle of Bulgaria, Bulgarians in Sophia in World War Two during the Holocaust.

 

There was natural, fertile ground for this to develop, but it has developed a great deal since then because we have common interests that have been expressed in the agreements we just signed in a variety of areas: in health, in technology, in science, in education, in culture. And our economies are getting closer. We discussed this morning, and will continue to discuss now over lunch, the ways we can expand this. You talked about investments in agriculture, in R&D. You talked about technology. You talked about important facts that I think the world should know about the stability of Bulgaria, the success of Bulgaria, may I say, the tax rates of Bulgaria, and other things that create opportunity for Israeli investors and Israeli cooperation in Bulgaria and with Bulgaria.

 

I look forward to translating that into concrete policies. We view you as great friends. And this friendship was tested recently in the great tragedy that took place in Bulgaria. I have to say that, since our last meeting, we agreed to expand tourism, and in fact, the number of visitors that came to Bulgaria climbed steeply and crossed 150,000, getting closer to 200,000. And yet we had this tragedy. I think friends are tested in times of need, and you rose to the challenge. You personally, Prime Minister, your government, your people, your doctors, everyone.

 

We appreciated that deeply. We also know that you stand with us against terror, because terror is indivisible and the battle against terrorism must be indivisible, and the victims of terrorism include, as in this case, Israelis and Bulgarians, and in so many other cases, the citizens of other countries. Today is September 11th. So we commemorate the greatest terror attack of all time.

 

We know that this malignancy threatens the entire world. And we know that the free countries and the principled countries have to stand together to defeat it. And we know that we have, with you, such a partnership, and I have no doubt that we shall prevail.

 

I look forward again to have the opportunity to see the many ways that we can increase cooperation, and I look forward to visiting Bulgaria on the next G2G meeting. It's always a pleasure to see you, Boyko. Welcome to Israel.