by Peter Lyukimson, Israel. Exclusively for VK
Israeli President Shimon Peres thanked his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev at the World Economic Forum in Davos for preventing a terrorist attack against a teacher and a rabbi at a school in Baku. Aliyev noted that the prevention of the terrorist attack demonstrates the ability of Azerbaijan to protect itself and citizens, regardless of their ethnicity and religion.
Peres said that he still has good memories of his visit to Baku in mid-2009 and hopes to make another visit to Azerbaijan. Aliyev noted that he recalls the visit of Peres well and reminded that they signed agreements that improved development of Azerbaijani-Israeli ties.
The two presidents met the same day Azerbaijan and Israel signed the deal on mutual support in customs operations. The document was signed by Aydyn Aliyev, head of the State Customs Committee, and Mikhael Letom, the Israeli Ambassador to Azerbaijan. Aydyn Aliyev expressed interest in customs cooperation with Israel and its expansion. IzRus, a popular Israeli website, says that the customs contacts started expanding with arrival of a high-ranking delegation from the Azerbaijani Customs Service for negotiations. Doron Arbeli, head of the Subdepartment for Foreign Links of the Israeli Tax Department, and Dilavar Farzaliyev, his Azerbaijani counterpart, signed a document setting out the agreements reached.
Azerbaijan lifted customs fees for matzo and kosher juice in March 2011 for Pesah in Baku, supplied by the Israeli Ohr Avner Foundation to Baku. The foundation is headed by President of Jewish Communities of the CIS, Lev Levayev. Economists say that Azerbaijani-Israeli trade turnover totaled over $2.5 billion in 2011. Israel became the fifth largest trade partner of Israel, Azerbaijan became the second largest partner of Israel among post-Soviet states.
