Israel national day at Expo

(ANSA) - Milan, June 29 - Israel has celebrated its National Day at the Milan Expo 2015 world's fair.
    With day-long celebrations last Thursday attended by Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely, Israel paid homage to the spirit of the food-themed Universal Exposition, which runs through October 31 under the banner 'Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life'.
    Expo's theme goes straight "to the heart of life" and is key to the present and future, said Hotovely, 36, in her first official visit outside Israel since she was appointed deputy foreign minister last month.
    "It intrinsically implies the concept of peace", she added.
    And peace was central to Israel's celebrations with the "entire population of Expo, all of them" invited to attend the events at the world's fair in Italy's financial capital, which has registered the record participation of 140 countries, including Palestinians and Lebanese.
    Hotovely also stressed the "great warmth between Italy and Israel, which can be seen at this extremely beautiful Expo".
    "I am thrilled and happy to be here, also because I am a great fan of pizza and I thank Italy for this - there is no better place than Italy to start feeding the planet", she joked.
    Feeding the planet has always been a fundamental issue for Israel because, since the 1950s, "innovation has been at the root of development for us", continued the deputy minister.
    Israeli engineers have "always" worked on systems to combat desertification and the country considers itself a "world leader" in irrigation-related science.
    And this vocation has been celebrated with a special pavilion, which according to Expo General Commissioner Bruno Pasquino is one of the fair's icons.
    Indeed the Israeli pavilion features a "vertical field" where rice, corn and wheat fields have been cultivated with a drip irrigation system over the past two months, ready to be harvested at the appropriate time - with the peculiarity that they are growing over a vertical surface.
    "This field expresses better than any other concept how we interpret applied science", said Israel's General Commissioner Elazar Cohen.
    Pasquino noted that the Israeli pavilion is "among the most relevant of the Exposition, because it goes to the heart of the theme 'feeding the planet' while expressing the will to share its knowledge with the world".
    "It is no coincidence that Israel is considered the 'breadbasket of knowledge' - I want to note that as many as 20 Nobel laureates over the past 50 years are Israeli", continued the Italian general commissioner.
    "Your fight against desertification is an example for the world and your position near Palazzo Italia is as significant", he noted.
    The Israeli flag-raising ceremony last week was also attended by Israel's Ambassador to Italy Naor Gilon and former Milan Mayor Letizia Moratti, who subsequently had lunch at Palazzo Italia with Hotovely and Expo President Diana Bracco. "Israel doesn't only contribute its agriculture and irrigation-related science, it brings its will to share knowledge in cooperation projects", she noted.