Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior ministers in his cabinet arrived in Berlin on Monday for an historic joint cabinet meeting between the governments of Germany and Israel. The meeting will be held in the office of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The annual meeting was first held two years ago in Israel and signifies the special relationship that exists between the two countries 60 years after the establishment of the state of Israel.

This is the first time such a session will be held in Germany.

Merkel traveled to Israel at the head of a ministerial visit in March 2008, when she addressed the Knesset.

Netanyahu had been scheduled to travel to Berlin in late November, but the trip was canceled due to illness.

The Israeli delegation on Monday is to include six ministers, including Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

Prior to the meeting, set for noon Monday, Netanyahu and Merkel are expected to tour a memorial situated near the Brandenburg Gate in honor of European Jewry murdered during the Holocaust.

The prime minister is also expected to visit the Jewish Museum in Berlin and to meet with the speaker of the Bundestag.

Bolstering bilateral relations as well as strengthening security, cultural and scientific relations between the two countries are some of the topics on the agenda.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is expected to feature strongly in the talks, in view of Iran's rejection of Western demand to halt its uranium enrichment program.

Merkel has called for strong sanctions against Iran, even though Germany remains the largest trading partner of the Islamic Republic.