Foreign Minister and Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid attended a historic meeting with Bahraini King Hamid bin Issa al Khalifa Thursday afternoon, becoming the first Israeli minister to meet with Bahrain's king.
Foreign Minister Lapid said: '' Thank you to the King of Bahrain, His Excellency, Bahraini King Hamid bin Issa al Khalifa, for a warm and hopeful meeting. The king's leadership and inspiration led to real cooperation and the meeting paves the way for the continuation of the relationship."
Earlier, Lapid met with Crown Prince and Bahraini Prime Minister Salman bin Hamid al- Khalifa. "Thank you for the privilege of being here today and taking another step together in building our relationship, in a model of partnership and coexistence between cultures and religions," said Minister Lapid.
Lapid also spoke with his counterpart Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Alzayani about the cooperation between the countries and the ways "to make the official peace between us an active, economic, security, political and civic friendship."
The foreign ministers of Israel and Bahrain will inaugurate the Israeli embassy in Manama and sign a series of bilateral agreements. The visit was joined by Foreign Ministry Director General Alon Ushpiz and Foreign Ministry Middle East Deputy Director General Oded Yosef.
