Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar departed for a diplomatic visit to Zambia on Tuesday to inaugurate Israel’s embassy in the southern African nation, some eight months after plans to install a new permanent diplomatic mission were first announced.

In a statement ahead of Sa’ar’s departure, the Foreign Ministry said he would meet with Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema, Foreign Minister Mulambo Haimbe and Speaker of Parliament Nelly Mutti to discuss “a series of initiatives” aimed at strengthening bilateral ties.

The inauguration ceremony at the embassy itself is scheduled for Wednesday, the Foreign Ministry said, and “marks an important step in deepening bilateral ties with Zambia.”

The decision to open a permanent embassy in Lusaka “forms part of a broader initiative to expand and strengthen relations with African nations,” one of Sa’ar’s “strategic goals” for the ministry this year, the Foreign Ministry added.

Israel and Zambia first established diplomatic ties in 1966, two years after Zambia gained independence from the United Kingdom. But relations were severed at the behest of the Organization of African Unity in the wake of Israel’s 1973 Yom Kippur........

© The Times of Israel