JERUSALEM, November 30 (Itar-Tass) - The Russian-Israeli intergovernmental commission “has proved its efficiency and produced concrete results”, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman told Russian journalists in an interview on Friday.
On the eve of his visit to Moscow on December 9, Israel’s foreign minister summarized the commission’s work, which, among other things, resulted in the lifting of the visa regime between the two countries.
“The number of tourists travelling either way has increased five-fold,” he said.
Liberman believes that “agriculture is a major area of bilateral economic co-operation.”
"Ever more Israeli-grown fruits and vegetables are supplied to the Russian market, and a growing amount of Russian wheat is imported to Israel,” he said. “Co- operation in this field is successful and mutually beneficial.”
Liberman also noted the growing role of aerospace industries in bilateral cooperation.
“Another interesting topic is our co-operation in the sphere of high technologies and nanotechnologies,” he said. “We will try to foster it.”
“Israeli-Russian relations are really comprehensive,” the minister said. “Our top priority, however, is human relations. About a million of people travel between our countries every year.”
Liberman also stressed the important role of culture and the value of cultural and spiritual exchanges between the two countries.
“I cannot even say whether Gesher Theater gives more performances in Moscow or in Tel Aviv,” he said. “Hardly a day goes by without some representatives of Russia’s cultural elite coming to Israel.”
Liberman said he would leave on a foreign tour on Sunday. He will be visiting Rome, New-York and Washington.
“From Washington, I will fly to Moscow to a regular meeting of the intergovernmental commission,” he said. “I hope to see Sergey Lavrov. It is actually a unique fact that the foreign ministers of Russia and Israel can talk to each other in Russian without an interpreter.