Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will leave next Monday for a two-day visit to Germany and Italy. This will be his first visit to these two countries since taking office.
Among others, Olmert will meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Walter-Frank Steinmeier. In Italy Olmert will meet with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi and with Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema.
Olmert said that the goal of the meetings is to strengthen the European stand not to compromise on the three conditions set out by the Quartet and to insure that the Road Map will be the only political program being considered.
In a government meeting, Olmert said that Israel is establishing activity on a strategic level towards the European states in order to safeguard Israel’s interests on these issues.