During an interview with Trend on Jan. 22 the Israeli Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Rafael Harpaz spoke about the tolerance in Azerbaijan.
“I have not seen the country which has such a high tolerance as Azerbaijan,” Harpaz said.
He noted that Jews has lived in Azerbaijan for thousands of years peacefully and safely.
“It is something that we appreciate a lot. It is very special. Jews are proud to be in Azerbaijan, well-connected to this country and this is something very special,” the ambassador added.
He stressed that the relations between Israel and Azerbaijan are very good.
“There is friendship between the countries and two people and very good and close political relations at the highest level,” Harpaz said. “We have a lot of appreciations to the achievements that Azerbaijan has reached since its independence. We have close cooperation on economic field and we have close cooperation on energy. We have strong Azerbaijani community in Israel and Jewish community here”.
Touching upon the issue of developing Israeli-Azerbaijani relations in tourism, the ambassador said that the tourism potential of Azerbaijan is enormous.
“You have a beautiful country. The potential is huge. I have been in Shaki, Zagatala, Gabala, Guba, Sumgayit, Nakhchivan, Gobustan and they are beautiful. I think infrastructure has dramatically improved,” Harpaz said. “I think tourism will be in the future very significant component of this economy, and it is a country with wonderful nature.”
Rafael Harpaz, speaking about the exchange of medical staff between the two countries, said that it is a very important issue and it has few aspects.
“I have been to few hospitals, which are wonderful hospitals and well-equipped. We have signed a few months ago an agreement with Oncological Hospital. Now we are going hopefully to develop a working plan with them for 2014 mainly in the training area,” he said.
The ambassador went on to add that Israel has a lot of experience in the training area.
“That is why we are really interested in sharing our experience with you in medical and technologies sphere that we have. We have also interest in bringing our technologies when it comes to the medical areas, to Azerbaijan. We see more and more Azerbaijanis go to Israel to do training in various areas, including the medicine. This is definitely an area we can cooperate,” Harpaz stressed.
He also said that in addition to the agreement on the oncological sphere, Israel and Azerbaijan have also signed a bilateral agreement on elimination of visa for diplomats and service passports.
“It is a very important agreement. It is now in the process of ratification. I guess by the middle of the year it will enter into force. So relations are very good, very special relations at the highest level possible. High-level meetings will continue in the very near future,” Harpaz said.
/Trend/
