The Republic of Azerbaijan on Thursday announced the appointment of its first-ever ambassador to Israel, less than two months after approving the opening of an embassy in Tel Aviv.
The role will be filled by Azerbaijan’s Deputy Education Minister Mukhtar Mammadov, according to local and Hebrew media reports. As deputy minister, Mammadov had been responsible for cooperative projects with Israel in the fields of science and education.
The appointment was made a day after Azerbaijan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Azerbaijan Fariz Rzayev landed in Israel for an official visit. In remarks upon landing, Rzayev said that following his country’s decision to open an embassy in Israel “the sky is the limit” for the two countries’ bilateral ties.
The November vote by the Azerbaijani parliament to open an embassy in Israel made it the first Shi’ite Muslim country to do so.
“The decision to open an embassy reflects the depth of the relationship between our countries. This move is the result of the Israeli government’s efforts to build strong diplomatic bridges with the Muslim world,” then-prime minister Yair Lapid said at the time.
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