From the Liveblog of
Saturday, February 15, 2025
FM Sa’ar meets world counterparts in Berlin, demands ‘more balanced’ position from China
Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar meets with a series of international counterparts at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, including Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
According to Sa’ar’s office, he tells Wang that Beijing should have a more “balanced” policy in the region, including on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the need for economic pressure on Iran.
With Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Sa’ar discusses US President Donald Trump’s vision for a logistics network between Asia, Europe and the US that passes through Israel. They also discuss a response to “damage done to trade routes” by the Houthis in Yemen and Iran.
He discusses with France’s Jean-Noel Barrot the ceasefire in Lebanon and “developments in Lebanon and Syria,” says Sa’ar’s office.
Sa’ar also meets with Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama, Venezuela’s exiled president-elect Edmundo Gonzalez, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Georg Georgiev, and UN envoy to Syria Geir Pederson.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha says he discussed with Sa’ar “shared security challenges stemming from the deepening cooperation between Iran and Russia.” He says he invited Sa’ar to visit Ukraine.
He also meets with senior German officials, including CDU party chief Friedrich Merz, the front-runner for the position of Chancellor of Germany and Vice-Chancellor Robert Habek.
