TEL AVIV (AFP-EJP)---French President Nicolas Sarkozy
plans to visit Israel next May, Secretary of State for Foreign Trade Hervé Novelli told journalists Thursday in Tel Aviv.

"The official date has not been set yet. May is only indicative," he said.

Novelli, who is in Israel at the head of a delegation of French businessmen, met with Israeli economic representatives.

Aides to Novelli said that Sarkozy’s visit, the first in Israel since his May election as head of the French state, might take place on the occasion of the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the creation of the State of Israel.

Israel’s independence day is generally celebrated in May, according to variations of the Hebrew lunar calendar.

On October 22, during his visit to Paris, Israeli Prime minister Ehud
Olmert praised Nicolas Sarkozy as a "sincere and true friend of
the State of Israel and of the Jewish people ».

He stressed that the atmosphere of relations between France and Israel had changed.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy (L) welcomes Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert at the Elysée presidential palace in Paris October 22, 2007. AFP Copyright 2007

Israel considers that the election of Sarkozy represents a turning point in its tumultuous relations with France, which for a long time was accused under former President Jacques Chirac to lead a pro-Arab policy.

During the election campaign, Sarkozy presented himself as a friend
of Israel and is considered as more pro-American than all the former
French presidents.

As leader of the conservative governing UMP (Union for a Popular Movement) party, he paid a visit to Israel in 2004 during which he was warmly welcomed by then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. He visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem.