Luis Ayllón
Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Eli Cohen, will visit Spain on Thursday 27th, during which he will be received by his Spanish counterpart, José Manuel Albares.
This is the first official visit by a head of Israeli diplomacy since Avigdor Lieberman travelled to our country in April 2010, and it will take place almost six years after the then President of Israel, Reuven Rivlin, paid a state visit in November 2017.
Exchanges of visits between Spanish and Israeli officials, which occurred with some frequency after the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1986, have declined in recent years, mainly those of Israelis to Spain, to the point that it has been 13 years since the last trip of a foreign minister to Madrid.
In contrast, their Spanish colleagues have travelled more frequently to Israel, and the last one to do so was Arancha González Laya, who visited the country in December 2020.
During Easter last year, the then Israeli foreign minister, Yair Lapid, was in Spain for a private visit, and his Spanish counterpart, José Manuel Albares, even arranged a meeting between the two. However, a government crisis in Israel has forced Lapid to rush back to Jerusalem.
Cohen has already had the opportunity to meet with Albares, with whom he spoke on 18 January at the Davos World Forum.
At that time, the Israeli minister expressed his recognition of Spain’s role and contribution to the UNIFIL force in southern Lebanon, and, referring to relations with our country, he indicated that there are many possibilities for progress in the areas of climate innovation, water, agriculture and desertification.
Cohen’s visit will now be aimed at ascertaining Spain’s views as it prepares to take over the Spanish Presidency of the EU, since understanding with the EU bloc, which is not always easy, is a matter of great concern to Israel.
