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Israeli FM to visit Azerbaijan
17.12.2009 11:47

Deputy General Director and Central Europe and Eurasia Division head
at the Israeli Foreign Ministry Pinhas Avivi will visit Azerbaijan
Dec. 22-23, Izrus reported.

The aim of the visit is to hold tlaks on Azerbaijani-Israeli relations.

The main issue on the agenda are the terms of an official visit by the
Israeli Foreign Ministry to Baku – the first in the history of the two
countries’ relations. The visit is planned for February.

This visit was discussed during a meeting between the two countries’
foreign ministers in Athens Dec. 1. At that meeting, Foreign Minister
Avigdor Lieberman invited his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar
Mammadyarov to Israel. The ministers may meet once more before
Lieberman’s Baku visit at the international economic forum in Davos in
late January. Earlier the ministers also met at the U.N. General
Assembly in New York in September.

Avivi’s Baku visit will be the final chord in boosting bilateral
relations. In addition to the intense dialogue of the foreign
ministers, Israeli President Shimon Peres visited Baku in June. The
sides, particularly Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Lieberman,
had talks in Prague in May.

In the first half of 2009, Azerbaijan was the only CIS country whose
trade with Israel increased. The republic was second after Russia in
terms of the volume of oil supplied to Israel. As a result, Azerbaijan
has virtually become Israel’s major economic partner in the Muslim
world.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress