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I am very pleased to be here today at this official ceremony to open the German-Israeli Year of Science and Technology together with my friend Dr Annette Schavan, the German Federal Minister of Education and Research. The decision of carrying out a special series of events to honour scientific cooperation between our two countries is based on our desire to draw public attention to, and to strengthen, this important area of the partnership between Germany and Israel.
As I am sure you all know, scientific cooperation between Germany and Israel began even before diplomatic relations were established, in the late 1950s, emerging from the dark memories of the Shoah. Science was a way of bridging the chasm between our two peoples. I believe that science, as well as culture and sports, are even today important instruments to build bridges between nations, and can contribute to the establishment of personal encounters.
Scientific cooperation between our two countries has reached a high level. This is reflected by the fact that Nobel laureates and winners of the Wolf Award, the Leibniz Award and the Israel Award are involved in a large number of joint research projects within the framework of our cooperation programmes. It is also reflected by the research activities, which deal with cutting edge topics in the world, on one hand, and topics that are of importance to the welfare and quality of life of both peoples, on the other hand.
We have the responsibility of ensuring the continuity of our scientific cooperation by including young researchers in these efforts. In order to highlight the importance that the Minister and I both place on young scientists, we have decided to include a young scientists' symposium in the opening festivities.
The Year of Science is an opportunity to strengthen and expand our partnership. Our two ministries have agreed to set up a new programme in the field of civil security research, which we hope will be realized before the end of the year.
I am confident that our varied and warm relations in the area of science will continue in the future, and that they will soon include our neighbouring countries, as well. There are already regional collaborative projects that have been initiated and supported by the German Ministry of Education and Research. We would like to expand these initiatives and use them to establish friendly relations between the Israeli population and our neighbouring countries - Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority. Science can contribute building trust and thus provide a first step to the promotion of peace in our region.
I very much hope that this will be an interesting and productive year for us all.
Thank you.