​(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)
 
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this morning (Tuesday, 13 December 2016), upon leaving on a diplomatic and economic visit to Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan:
 
"Today I am leaving on a two-day visit to two important countries, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. These are two large and significant countries in the Islamic world and our goal is to strengthen diplomatic, security and economic relations with them. In complete contrast to what is heard from time to time, not only is Israel not suffering from diplomatic isolation, Israel is a country that is coming back. These countries want very much to strengthen ties with Israel and following the strengthening of our relations with the major powers of Asia, with countries in Africa and with countries in Latin America, now come ties with important countries in the Islamic world.
 
This is part of a clear policy of going out to the world. Israel's relations are flourishing in an unprecedented manner. This is also the first, historic, visit by an Israeli Prime Minister to Kazakhstan. This is also the second Prime Minister's visit to Azerbaijan. I know because I made the first visit almost two decades ago and I met with the father of the current leader. There is continuity here as well as an important breakthrough."