(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will, Saturday evening (3 June 2017), leave on a diplomatic-economic visit to Liberia where he will attend the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) conference and meet with several west African heads of state and government.
Prime Minister Netanyahu will sign various agreements:
1. An Israel-ECOWAS joint statement:
The statement emphasizes the commitment to enhancing relations between Israel and the organization in a wide variety of areas including agriculture, desertification and climate change, water, trade, education, health, homeland security, cyber and communications, energy, culture and science.
Israel and ECOWAS will also declare their cooperation in the fight against terror.
2. A general Israel-ECOWAS MOU
The goal of the MOU is to define a framework for areas of cooperation and dialogue between the sides and to advance economic and technical cooperation and assistance.
3. An agreement to implement the Israel-ECOWAS understandings regarding international cooperation:- Food security and alleviating poverty.
- Agriculture, rural development, water resources development and anti-desertification.
- Training and professional guidance for both ECOWAS commission personnel and from member states.
PM Netanyahu will be accompanied by Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz, Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel, Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely and MK Avraham Neguise.
This visit to west Africa follows PM Netanyahu's successful visit to east Africa last year; the goal is to strengthen ties with the African continent.
This October PM Netanyahu is due to visit Togo for an Africa-Israel conference in which he will meet with many African heads of state.