With King Mswati III of Swaziland earlier today. He will make a - TopicsExpress

With King Mswati III of Swaziland earlier today. He will make a State Visit to Israel in mid-March. I presented him with a map of Israel from 1820 to give an idea what he will see. Here is the speech I made: COMMENTS OF AMBASSADOR ARTHUR LENK, AMBASSADOR OF ISRAEL TO SWAZILAND UPON PRESENTATION OF LETTER OF CREDENTIALS TO H.R.H. KING MSWATI III, 27 FEBRUARY 2014 Your Royal Highness, King Mswati III, Members of the Government, Sanibonani! Today is an auspicious occasion. For me personally, I am deeply honored to convey my letter of credentials from my President, Shimon Peres, to you, beginning my term as Ambassador of Israel to the Kingdom of Swaziland. I bring a message of friendship, one that has been strong ever since the independence of Swaziland in 1968. This visit is also a meeting for the planning of the State Visit to Israel of Your Royal Highness which is scheduled to take place next month. I know that my Government and people are excited to welcome you to our country and to discuss together the further developing of the relations between our two great nations. I am hopeful that this visit will give you an opportunity to witness the amazing achievements of my country. Although we, like Swaziland, are a small country, we have over the past nearly 66 years since our independence, become world leaders in some important areas. Israel is duly famous for many of our innovations: in agriculture, in water management, in technology and in homeland security. We have made our desert homeland bloom, solved problems of drought that have existed in the Land of Israel since Biblical times and developed advanced capabilities in health and the sciences to make our world a better place. We are also eager to share this experience with our friends here in Swaziland. Your Royal Highness, I understand that the motto of the Kingdom is “Siyinqaba”, which means “we are a fortress” in Swati language. This is a very meaningful message and one that speaks deeply to me and my people. We, too, believe that our strength, our protection and our best resource is our people. It is through the ingenuity, creativeness and innovation of our people – our men and our women – that we move forward and develop in Israel. Siyinqaba. The politics of my region are far away from Swaziland, perhaps. I want you to know that Israel seeks to live in peace with its neighbors. We have achieved peace agreements with some of our neighbors and are talking about the benefits and potential of peace with others. At the same time, when necessary, we act to protect our people from danger, from terrorism, from attack. Siyinqaba. Israel is very active throughout Africa. Israel is a neighbor of Africa and we have a relationship that goes back in history thousands of years. Many of our citizens come from Africa – from Ethiopia, from Morocco and from South Africa. We are working with our friends in many countries on projects in a range of areas from agriculture to education to healthcare and see ourselves as deeply connected to Africa. I hope that when we go to Israel together next month, this visit will be inspiring to all sides. You will have the opportunity to make a pilgrimage to places from the Bible and see some of the most amazing achievements of the 21st century. I hope that it will serve as a start to a renewing and increasing of the cooperation between Israel and Swaziland. And I am honored to be able to play a small role in our relationship. Ngiyabonga! Thank you very much.