Israel's top diplomat Yair Lapid arrived in the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday for the first ever official visit by an Israeli minister, after the two nations normalised ties in September.
Lapid landed at Abu Dhabi airport after earlier tweeting a picture of himself from inside a plane, with the caption: "Taking off for a historic visit to the UAE."
Israeli ministers have previously visited the United Arab Emirates, but newly appointed Lapid is the most senior Israeli to make the trip, and the first to travel on an official mission.
Since the normalisation accord with the UAE was was announced in August 2020, Israel has signed a raft of deals with the UAE, ranging from tourism to aviation and financial services.
During his visit, Lapid will inaugurate the Israeli embassy in Abu Dhabi, as well as the consulate general of Israel in Dubai.
"The Israeli delegation will land late morning at Abu Dhabi, and will be received by the minister of economic affairs at the foreign ministry," Israel's foreign ministry had said in a statement.
The trip comes nearly a year after the nations moved to normalise ties, and after months of planned visits by Israeli officials were stymied by issues including the Covid pandemic and diplomatic scuffles.
In March, a planned official visit by former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was cancelled due to a "dispute" with Jordan over the use of its airspace, according to Israeli officials.
Netanyahu, replaced as prime minister by Jewish nationalist Naftali Bennett in a coalition government cobbled together by Lapid, had already postponed a February visit to the UAE and Bahrain over coronavirus travel restrictions.
The normalisation accords between Israel and the UAE, as well as Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan, have been condemned by the Palestinians as they break with years of Arab League policy which has held that there should be no relations with Israel until it makes peace with the Palestinians.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
