Rabat – Israel’s newly appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs Eli Cohen revealed on Monday his plans to visit Morocco next March to attend a summit with representatives from Arab countries that have normalized diplomatic relations with Israel under the US-brokered Abraham Accords, i24news reported.
A total of four Arab nations, including Morocco, Bahrain, Sudan, and the UAE, signed the Abraham Accords since 2020, re-establishing diplomatic ties with Israel.
Cohen was sworn in as the country’s new foreign minister in a ceremony last week, during which he hailed the role of the Abraham Accords, saying that they “have dramatically changed the Middle East.”
He explained that trade between Israel and the countries that signed the Accords reached more than $2.8 billion in 2022.
Beyond economic benefits, Cohen argued that normalizing ties with Israel has contributed to “the strengthening of the stability of the region.”
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The Israeli foreign minister noted that he will hold a meeting with the heads of UAE’s ministries in Abu Dhabi “in preparation for another foreign ministers’ summit that will take place in Morocco this coming March.”
“Expanding the accords to other countries is not a matter of ‘if’ but of ‘when,’ Reuters quoted Cohen as saying, suggesting that other countries will follow suit and normalize relations with Israel in the future.
In addition, Cohen emphasized the importance of the Israel-US partnership, stressing that the latter is a “top priority” for his office.
The newly appointed foreign minister spoke to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the phone earlier today. The pair discussed the centrality of the Abraham Accords and the importance of expanding them.
“I told him [Antony Blinken] that the strategic relations with the US are our top priority and we will continue to strengthen the special relationship between the two countries,” Cohen said on Twitter.
