Scott Morrison and Jacinda Ardern in a video conference with Benjamin Netanyahu

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu participated in a video conference on Friday hosted by Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, with prominent world leaders on the corona pandemic including Australia’s Scott Morrison and New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern.

The leaders discussed international cooperation in dealing with the spread of the pandemic.

Austrian Chancellor Kurz initiated the conversation among seven leaders, which was defined as a consultation between the leading countries in dealing with the Coronavirus and constitutes a global model. Prime Minister Netanyahu, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis participated in the conversation which was chaired by Austrian Chancellor Kurz.

At the start of the conversation, Austrian Chancellor Kurz thanked Prime Minister Netanyahu and said: “I would like to first to thank some of you and especially Bibi Netanyahu. I remember in March we had some phone calls and he said to me, well, you are not taking the situation serious enough in Europe and especially in Austria and you should do more. And this was something like a wake-up call for me and then we took some very difficult decisions but I think they were good. We had a complete lockdown like many of you starting at mid-March.”

 

Prime Minister Netanyahu informed the leaders about the decisions and steps that have been taken in Israel in order to prevent the virus from spreading. He said that cooperation between countries must be continued and must be tightened and that there must be a continued exchange of knowledge and ideas in order to fight the spread of the virus.

The leaders discussed ways to advance international cooperation in the struggle against the coronavirus, exchanged ideas and ways in which their countries are dealing with the spread of the virus, raised common dilemmas in reopening the economy and policy regarding the reopening of educational institutions, and discussed ways of protecting at-risk populations in the shadow of the coronavirus.

The leaders expressed concern over a second wave of an outbreak of the pandemic and over the fact that the virus is expected to be with us for some time. The leaders also noted that the spring weather in Europe is liable to lead to complacency among the population vis-à-vis adhering to the directives.

The leaders sought to learn from Israel about digital tools especially in regard to dealing with a second wave of outbreak.