FILE PHOTO: Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid meets with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (not pictured) in Rome, Italy, June 27, 2021. Andrew Harnik/Pool via REUTERS
June 29, 2021
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel’s foreign minister headed to the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday in the first official visit by an Israeli minister to the Gulf state since the two countries established diplomatic relations last year.
Yair Lapid is set to inaugurate Israel’s embassy in Abu Dhabi and its consulate in Dubai during the two-day visit.
Lapid posted on Twitter a picture of himself during take-off, calling the visit “historic”.
The UAE, along with Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco, began normalising relations with Israel last year under accords brokered by then-U.S. President Donald Trump.
(Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
