Azerbaijan, Israel aim to double both trade and tourist flow - Deputy Director General of Israeli MFA

Azerbaijan, Israel aim to double both trade and tourist flow - Deputy Director General of Israeli MFA

BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 19. Azerbaijan, Israel aim to double both trade and tourist flow, Simona Halperin, Deputy Director General, Head of Eurasia and Western Balkans Division at Israel's Foreign Ministry, said in an exclusive interview with Trend in Baku.

Halperin pointed out that Israel's Foreign Minister Eli Cohen has visited Azerbaijan with the largest delegation that has ever accompanied an Israeli minister in a visit to Azerbaijan.

"The minister is accompanied by 16 members of the business delegation and 10 different government agencies and ministries. The main purpose of the visit is to expand the economic cooperation between Israel and Azerbaijan. We are going to sign a number of agreements on cooperation. We are going to promote cooperation in various areas from health to cyber security to innovation, environment, as well as education. It is a really important visit," she said.

Halperin pointed out that definitely, the sides are going to discuss the energy issue, because it is such an important area for Azerbaijan, but also because Israel has so much interest to offer in the next phase moving towards renewable energy.

Speaking about the Israeli business in Azerbaijan, she noted that Israeli companies are working very significantly in the areas of expertise from energy to very relevant sectors in reconstruction of Karabakh, such as water management, agriculture.

She also praised the opening of the Azerbaijani embassy in Israel.

"We are thrilled and happy that after 30 years of diplomatic relations we have an Azerbaijani ambassador in Israel. We very much welcome the opening of the Azerbaijani embassy in Israel. We are targeting to double both the economic and tourism relations. Currently, we have about 50 000 tourists from Israel and the target is to at least double that, because we see a great potential," said Simona Halperin.