Senior Azeri official: "The sky's the limit for Israel and Azerbaijan"

By Azernews

The Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan, Fariz Rzayev, landed in Israel on Wednesday with the goal of scouting out a site for the future Azeri embassy. In the first statement on the issue by an Azeri official since his parliament's decision to open the embassy last month, Rzayev stated, "With the decision to open an official embassy in Israel, the sky's the limit for relations between the two states and nations."

The Deputy Minister has a busy schedule in Israel; besides scouting out potential sites for an embassy, Rzayev will be meeting with former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo who is well-known and respected in the Shiite country. Additionally, Rzayev will visit the Foreign Ministry and lecture on different aspects of Azerbaijan and coexistence between Jews, Muslims, and members of other religions in his country. Later, he will meet with Einat Schlein, the head of the Agency for International Development Cooperation (MASHAV) in the Foreign Ministry, and Aliza Ben-Nun, the ministry's policy directorate. The deputy minister will also be holding a special meeting with an old teacher from his school days who has since immigrated to Israel.

"This is a rare and historic step and I'm happy to be in the place where such a decision is being made and to be part of the process of opening the embassy," Rzayev said.

"The pact between our two countries is a wonder since it is not just based on mutual interests, but also on a mutual history between two peoples, who lived together for over one thousand years," he continued, referring to the historic links between Jews and Muslims in the Caucasus mountain region.

As reported, in November, the Azerbaijan parliament announced its historic decision to open an embassy in Israel.

The embassy will be located in Tel Aviv and will be the first embassy in Israel of a country with a Shi’ite majority and a Shi’ite government.

The original article was posted on Israel National News.