Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, on a visit to Israel, is set to meet Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and attend the dedication of the Honduran Embassy in Jerusalem on Thursday.
“Glad to return to Israel,” Hernandez tweeted Arriving on Wednesday evening. “This visit will serve to strengthen the ties of friendship, solidarity and cooperation between our two sister countries. I am sure it will be a great blessing to Honduras.”
He couple The dedication of the new embassy to Honduras will be “a historic date”.
Hernandez was slated to meet Bennett at the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem on Thursday morning and attend the opening of the embassy at Technology Park in Jerusalem’s Malha neighborhood on Thursday afternoon.
The new embassy will be the fourth to be established in Jerusalem, after the United States, Guatemala and Kosovo.
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During his visit, the President is also scheduled to meet President Reuven Rivlin, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and Leader of the Opposition Benjamin Netanyahu.
In September, Hernandez and then Prime Minister Netanyahu Agreed To open mutual embassies in each other’s capitals by the end of 2020.
But at the time of the initial announcement, Hernandez said he expects “this historic step to be taken before the end of the year, as long as the pandemic allows it.”
Earlier this month he announced That the long-awaited move will take place in June.
FILE: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez in Jerusalem on October 29, 2015. (Coby Gideon/GPO)
“We are formally taking a step-by-step process, which is the establishment of our embassy in Jerusalem,” Hernandez said, adding that the move “will empower us in the agricultural sector, in the field of innovation and in the field of innovation.” tourism sector. “
Israel is set to open a diplomatic office in Honduran’s capital Tegucigalpa, after opening a temporary representative office in the Honduran capital last August.
The meeting between Bennett and Hernandez will be the first one-on-one meeting Israel’s new prime minister has with a foreign leader since he took office last week.
Honduras recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in August 2019, and a month later opened a commercial office in Jerusalem as an extension of Honduras’ embassy in Rishon Lezion.
In January 2020, Honduras officially declared Hezbollah a terrorist organization, which was praised by Jerusalem.
government on sunday Approved The appointment of Eldad Golan Rosenberg as the new Israeli ambassador to Honduras, one of 36 diplomats whose approval was withheld for months by the former government.
AFP contributed to this report.
