Israel, Azerbaijan discuss cooperation
Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu paid an official visit to Azerbaijan on December 13 to advance diplomatic relations, discuss regional issues as well as diplomatic, security and economic matters.
The visit caught huge international attention as being the second in turn high level trip of Mr. Netanyahu to Azerbaijan in the capacity of Israeli prime minister. Netanyahu first visited Baku to meet with the then President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev about 20 years ago -in 1997.
Since then, the relations have progressively expanded and this high-level visit will surely become a serious momentum for strengthening and expanding relations between the two countries.
In Baku, Netanyahu had fruitful talks, after which he flew to Kazakhstan, another Muslim country in the post-Soviet area.
Azerbaijan, which has become a state-leader of the Transcaucasian region, is making great strides in its development, turning the current bilateral relations between the two countries into a two-way street.
Today, the two countries ties are an ideal sample of understanding between a Muslim country and the Jewish state. Azerbaijan is of strategic importance for Israel because of its geographic position and proximity to Iran.
The visit of the Israeli Prime Minister to Baku is considered historical for many reasons.
Israel is a country considered a superpower in the region, which has no diplomatic relations with most Arab countries and Iran, whereas Azerbaijan, being a member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, enjoys warm relations with these countries.
Moreover, having very friendly relations with Ankara, Baku can assist in strengthening relationship between Turkey and Israel, who lately tend to improve after the crisis in 2010.
Azerbaijan is one of the few Muslim countries, which has deep political, diplomatic and economic ties with Israel. In this context, Azerbaijan plays a special role for Israel.
Being a Muslim majority country, Azerbaijan is a home to a large Jewish community. The country’s north region of Guba is home to Azerbaijan's largest community of Mountain Jews, who live in Krasnaya Sloboda (Red Town).
The two countries cooperate not only in trade and economic sphere (Israel imports Azerbaijani oil through the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline) but also had broad interaction in military and military-technical spheres.
During a short visit the Prime Minister met with President Ilham Aliyev. The last meeting between the two leaders was held in January 2015 on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
President Aliyev and his spouse Mehriban Aliyeva welcomed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his spouse Sara Netanyahu.
During the meeting President Aliyev said that Jewish community is a very active part of Azerbaijani society and they contribute a lot to the development of the country.
"It is a very important factor in our bilateral relations," President Aliyev said.
In turn, Netanyahu said he was glad to be in Azerbaijan for the second time, adding that Israel and Azerbaijan have excellent relationship and also friendship between the two nations. Netanyahu noted that the Jewish people feel very comfortable in Azerbaijan, adding that some 70,000 people from Azerbaijan, Jews, are living in Israel.
"We have a lot to talk about, including energy of course," he stressed.
"I look forward to discussing with you how we can increase prosperity of our nations and cooperation between our governments," he said.
Following the one-on-one meeting, the two countries signed agreements on standardization, double taxation and agricultural cooperation.