Prime Minister Netanyahu left for Liberia Saturday, his visit to center on strengthening diplomatic and economic ties with African states, as well as to attend the ECOWAS Conference.
The Prime Minister will attend the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) Summit followed by meetings with several African heads of state and business people. He has traveled with a delegation including Israel’s Energy Minister, Agriculture Minister and Foreign Minister.
He has again made history for Israel’s relations with Africa, Netanyahu the first foreign leader, not from Africa, invited to address the ECOWAS.
Morocco’s Foreign Ministry announced thatKing Mohammed VI has cancelled his participation in the summit as Prime Minister Netanyahu is attending.
The Prime Minister will sign several agreements and accords, including the Israel-ECOWAS joint statement, which centers on Israel and the ECOWAS increasing partnerships and relations in the areas of “agriculture, desertification, climate change, water, trade, education, homeland security, cyber and communications, energy, culture and science”.
Ahead of leaving for Liberia Saturday, the Prime Minister made the following remarks “I am leaving now for a conference of west African countries. This is the first time they have invited the leader of a non-African country to address them; I very much appreciate it.
He spoke of his tour to Africa last year, a monumental diplomatic achievement for the State of Israel. He stated “Israel is returning to Africa in a big way. As a result of my visit to east Africa we are now going to West Africa and my goal is to erode this majority, this great blocking majority of 54 African countries that is the basis of the automatic majority against Israel in the UN and other international bodies. I think that it is to Israel’s credit how they esteem us. This is a long journey but we are surely making it step by step.”
Last year Prime Minister Netanyahu made a four-day tour to Africa where he met with several heads of states, signing cooperative agreements in Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia.
Following his successful tour, he stated:
All of these countries [from Netanyahu’s tour], without exception, and many others, are interested in enhancing relations with Israel because they see Israel and its technological capabilities as a major force, first of all, that could assist them in the war against radical Islam that is inundating all of Africa. They want to be close to us; they want our help. This is the first thing.
The second thing is that they see Israel’s technological and entrepreneurial ability as a very major tool in developing their countries in all areas; we will discuss this later.
A third point- Both during this visit and afterwards, we are receiving calls from other countries, some of which we do not have relations with, that they want to enhance relations. That is to say, there is a certain process here that is advancing toward the enhancement and normalization of our ties with African countries.
This article originally appeared on Behold Israel, June 4, 2017, and reposted with permission.