“It was a very successful visit, advancing relations between Israel and Azerbaijan in the spheres of agriculture, health care, education, visa regime, and other directions. Our countries understand each other almost in all issues,” an aide of the minister for foreign affairs of Israel Avigdor Lieberman commented on the minister’s visit.
As VK reported the official ground for Lieberman’s visit was arrangements devoted to the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations between two countries. The central ceremony took place in the Baku yacht-club. Along with the government members and PMs, employees of various embassies in Azerbaijan participated in it.
Ahead of it Lieberman met the leaders of the Jewish Diaspora and the staff of the Jewish school established in Baku by the movement HABAD which was chosen as a target by Iran’s agents who recently were arrested by Azerbaijani special services. In the Jewish cultural center the minister talked to Azerbaijani students who study Hebrew. Lieberman invited three best students to spend the summer vocation in Israel.
During the intensive many-sided talks a certain agreement had been reached: Azerbaijani doctors of various medical spheres will undergo career development courses in Israeli hospitals. Liberman noted that Israel has a quota for taking foreign doctors to such courses, but he can attain extension of the quota for Azerbaijan. The agreement on intensification of exchange by students and pupils between Azerbaijani and Israel was reached.
Azerbaijani diplomats expressed their interest to possibility of borrowing the Israeli technology of seawater conversion and modern agricultural technologies.
As for the talks on simplification of the visa regime between the countries, Azerbaijan asked to let its diplomats visit Israel without visas. The Israeli side asked in its turn to simplify the process of getting visas for Israeli businessmen who come to Azerbaijan from third countries. Today Israel is the only country which citizens get visas to Azerbaijan directly in the Baku airport. But if an Israel businessman flies to Baku from Germany, France or other country of the world, he has problems with entrance to the republic. Lieberman’s team says that these problems have been solved during the talks.
Regarding economic ties, it was emphasized that economic relations between two countries were developing successfully.
The central moment of the visit was Lieberman’s meetings with his Azerbaijani colleague Elmar Mamedyarov and President Ilham Aliyev. Lieberman presented to President Aliyev Israeli vision of the situation in the Middle East, first of all, in Egypt and the Palestinian Autonomy. The Foreign Minister of Israel underlined that all one-sided steps taken by Palestine have been harmful for them (hoping that Azerbaijan as a member of the UN SC will consider it during voting on Palestine’s initiatives).
A source in the ministry for foreign affairs of Israel rejected a guess that Kiberman and Aliyev discussed possibility of Azerbaijan mediation in normalization of Israeli-Turkish relations. According to Lieberman, they discussed economy and natural resources problems.
Petr Lukimson, Israel. Exclusively to VK
