JERUSALEM, 22 June 2021, (TON): Israel’s foreign office said “Israel's Foreign Minister Yair Lapid will visit the United Arab Emirates, in the first official ministerial visit since the two nations agreed to normalise ties.”

Israel and the UAE, along with Bahrain, normalised ties in September, and the Jewish state also last year agreed to normalise relations with two other Arab nations, Morocco and Sudan.

A statement read “Foreign Minister Yair Lapid will hold the first and historic official visit of an Israeli foreign minister to the UAE.”

It added that he will be hosted by UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan on his two-day visit from June 29-30.

Lapid is the architect of a coalition government in Israel that came to power on June 13, ousting long serving prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who presided over last year's normalisation accords.

Israeli ministers have previously visited the UAE, but Lapid is the most senior Israeli to make the trip, and the first to travel on an official journey.