Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou and his visiting Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday announced the creation of a joint committee to deal with all possible issues of bilateral cooperation, including security, tourism, investments, energy and innovation.

The announcement during a joint press conference follows a meeting at the Maximos Mansion in Athens, where Netanyahu termed his visit to Greece as being of historic importance.

Mutual visits by the Greek and Israeli prime ministers to Israel and Greece, respectively, have taken place over the recent period for the first time since the establishment of the state of Israel.

It was also stressed during the joint press conference that the strengthening of relations between Greece and Israel constitutes a strategic option of the two countries and should not be considered as being in conflict of the two countries' bilateral or multilateral relations with other countries