President Déby was received in the Great Hall of the President’s Residence by President Herzog with a special ceremony with a small honor guard, at which both nations’ anthems were played by the IDF Orchestra, after which the President of Chad signed the guest book. The two Presidents held a private meeting in the President’s Bureau, after which they held an expanded meeting with the participation of both delegations.

President Déby is visiting Israel in honor of the official inauguration of the Chadian Embassy in Israel tomorrow.

President Isaac Herzog at the start of the meeting: “Mr. President, I am very pleased to host you here at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem. The relations between our countries are very important to us, and your visit is a historic visit. Our relationship, which has existed for many years, is based first and foremost on trust. We are especially excited that during your historic visit, you will open your embassy. We have discussed several issues, which we will elaborate on here, concerning the broad cooperation of the huge potential of our bilateral relationship. We, the State of Israel, from the day of its establishment, have believed in relations with the states of Africa and have maintained political, economic, and diplomatic ties with many countries, and we want more countries. I pray for the day the potential of our relations will become tangible, for the benefit of Chad, Israel, and the peoples of the region.

“I believe in the brave dialogue between the Jewish world and the world of Islam. I extend my hand in dialogue and I think you are a brave leader who is following in the footsteps of your brave father, and your courage, both yours and your father’s, will go down in history when it comes to the progress in relations between Israel and Muslim and African countries.”

President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno of the Republic of Chad: “Mr. President, I want first of all to thank you, Mr. President, and say how happy I am to make this first visit in your great and beautiful country, the State of Israel: the cradle of civilization and monotheistic religions. I have been able to see how unique this place is, with what is happening here, and with its people. I want to thank you at this opportunity, Mr. President, for the warm reception and the warm treatment we have received from the moment we landed.”

President Déby thanked Mossad and the Chadian intelligence services and said: “Mr. President, I want to commend Mossad and the Chadian intelligence services for their decisive contribution, as the architects who with their own hands built the relations between us. I want to congratulate them on their wonderful work in preparing this visit and I want to ask them and encourage them to keep up their work in order to enable the strengthening of relations and more visits on both sides.

President Déby continued: “I can already see, and I am happy to see, the quality of our cooperation. What characterize our relations are honesty and a common will to help advance this process, and we see this with every step.