Tourexpi
Israeli Tourism
Minister Haim Katz on Tuesday landed in Saudi Arabia to attend a UN tourism
event, marking the first-ever public visit to the kingdom.
"Tourism is a
bridge between nations. Partnership in tourism issues has the potential to
bring hearts together and economic prosperity,” Katz said in a statement cited
by the Times of Israel news website.
"I will work to
advance cooperation, tourism and the foreign relations of Israel," he
added.
During his two-day
visit, the Israeli minister will attend an event organized by the UN World
Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the Israeli public broadcaster KAN reported.
There was no comment
yet from the Saudi authorities on the Israeli minister’s visit.
Recent months have
seen US efforts to strike a deal to normalize relations between Israel and
Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia and
Israel don’t have diplomatic relations and Riyadh insists that any deal to
normalize ties with Tel Aviv must include a component advancing efforts to
establish a Palestinian state, concessions that Israel has so far flatly
rebuffed.
Six Arab countries
have diplomatic ties with Israel, starting with Egypt in 1979, Jordan in 1994,
the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain in September 2020, and then Sudan
and Morocco later that year.
Image Credit: © AA
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