Tanzania's Foreign Minister Augustine Mahiga
Tanzania's Foreign Minister Augustine MahigaReuters

Tanzania announced Tuesday that it will open its first embassy in Israel, Yisrael Hayom reported.

Tanzanian Foreign Minister Dr. Augustine Mahiga will attend the opening of the embassy on May 8. The new embassy located at 12 Abba Hillel Silver Street in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv

The east African nation of Tanzania has never opened an embassy in Israel before. Tanzania severed diplomatic relations with Israel in 1973 following the Yom Kippur War. Relations between the two nations were reestablished in 1995, However, Israeli contacts with Tanzania have been conducted solely through Nairobi in Kenya.

Dr. Mahiga will be the first Tanzanian Foreign Minister to visit Israel.

Tanzania appointed its first Ambassador to Israel, Job Daudi Masima, only last year. Prior to Masima's appointment Tanzania was represented in Israel by Honorary Consul Kasbian Nuriel Chirich.

The opening of the first Tanzanian embassy in Israel comes days before the opening of the new US embassy in Israel's capital of Jerusalem on May 14, and the opening of the Guatemalan embassy in Jerusalem.