(JNS) Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar will inaugurate a new embassy in the South Pacific country of Fiji on Tuesday, amid growing ties between the two nations.
The move comes less than a year after Fiji opened an embassy in Jerusalem, and marks a strengthening Israeli presence in the Pacific region.
“We view this as a very significant milestone, and it is indicative of how Israel values the importance of the relationship between our two countries,” Fiji’s Ambassador to Israel Jesoni Vitusagavulu told JNS on Sunday.
Fiji’s prime minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, who himself had traveled to Israel with a delegation of senior government ministers for the September inauguration of his country’s embassy in Jerusalem, will attend this week’s event in the Fijian capital of Suva.
He will also host Israel’s top diplomat during his two-day visit to the archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, northeast of New Zealand, and two-thirds of the way from Hawaii to New Zealand.
Israel and Fiji, which established diplomatic relations in 1970, have rapidly expanding ties, with the Jewish state sharing technological, cyber and agricultural know-how and the Pacific ocean nation long offering faith-based diplomatic support.
Israel previously had an embassy in Fiji in the 1970s and 1980s, but it was closed in the 1990s due to budgetary cuts, following which the Jewish state managed relations with Fiji through non-resident ambassadors.
“Our affinity and affection to Israel actually predates our official establishment of ties over half a century ago and dates back to 1835 when Christian missionaries came to Fiji and taught the Bible,” said Fiji’s Ambassador to Israel. “We have a deep appreciation for Israel.”
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