Olmert tries hand at dairy diplomacy

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert spent his first day in China learning to milk a cow on a farm yesterday, and hoped people of this vast country get accustomed to dairy products.

The model dairy farm on the outskirts of Beijing has adopted Israeli technology and equipment and was the visiting Israeli prime minister's first destination on his three-day visit to China.

Israel is trying to make China's huge population use more and more dairy products, and Olmert hoped all Chinese farms adopted the system followed by the one near Beijing.

"We love to do business with you (China)," Olmert said, vowing to develop modern dairy farming and dairies with more Chinese firms.

He also officiated at the cornerstone-laying ceremony of the "China-Israel Cooperation Center for Modern Dairy Technology" at the farm.

The prime minister's elder brother Amram Olmert had worked in Beijing for four years as agriculture counselor in the Israeli Embassy, and made a lot of efforts to promote Sino-Israeli agricultural cooperation.

Coincidently, the former diplomat is in the country, too, to deliver a few lectures.

Ehud Olmert appeared relaxed on the farm and at the Bird's Nest stadium, being built for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, where he said China is "going to have the best Olympics ever".

He will get down to serious business today, holding formal talks with Premier Wen Jiabao that would focus on bilateral trade, Iran's nuclear programme and the peace process in the Middle East.

Source: China Daily