Nations index: L-Z

Emphasizing the strong historical bonds between Lithuania, Israel and the Jewish people, the Prime Minister of Lithuania, Mr. Andrius Kubilius, said that his first visit to Israel was a “very emotional moment” as he prepared to plant a tree in KKL-JNF's Grove of Nations.

Earlier in the day, in a separate ceremony, also highly charged with emotion, the President of Macedonia, Gjorgje Ivanov, and his wife had planted an olive sapling in the Grove of Nations overlooking Mount Herzl.

The Prime Minister of Macedonia Nikola Gruevski plants an olive tree in the KKL-JNF Grove of Nations in Jerusalem.

The presidents of two small friendly nations visited Israel for the first time, and planted a tree in the Grove of Nations: President Emanuel Mori of Micronesia and President Marcus Stephen of Nauru.

“It’s said that to safeguard our future, we have to remember our past,” said Moldovan Prime Minister Vladimir Filat, as he planted an olive tree in a ceremony held at the Grove of Nations in Jerusalem.

Montenegro Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic planted an olive tree sapling in the KKL-JNF Grove of Nations in the Jerusalem Forest.

"KKL-JNF, through all its diverse activities, makes us understand what we are doing wrong in terms of protecting nature and the environment. I would like to congratulate KKL-JNF for turning the state of Israel into a better place to live.”

Romanian President Traian Basescu planted an olive tree in Grove of the Nations in the Jerusalem Forest. "The olive tree is a symbol of peace, and its planting symbolizes our faith in peace and fraternity among nations," he declared.

"Planting an olive tree is a symbolic gesture that represents our striving for peace as well as the promise that the Jewish people will never again undergo the horrors that it has suffered," said Borut Pahor, the Prime Minister of Slovenia.

Prime Minister of Togo Gilbert Fossoun Houngbo returned to his former profession as an agriculturist for a few minutes when he planted a small olive tree in the Grove of Nations, located close to Mount Herzl and the Yad Vashem Museum.

The President of Turkey, Mr. Ahmed Nasdat Cesar planted an olive tree in the Grove of the Nations Forest in Jerusalem on June 2006.

On December 1st, under great security, the President of the Ukraine Victor Yanukovych planted an olive tree in the Grove of Nations, on Jerusalem's Mt. Hertzel.

"I hope that this young tree I have planted today will be a symbol of the efforts underway to minimize the ecological damage caused by greenhouse gases.”