Israel's Yair Lapid lands in UAE for first official visit

Abu Dhabi: In a a landmark moment for his country and the Arab world, Israel's Foreign Minister, Yair Lapid landed in the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday pay an official visit to the Gulf state since Israel, the UAE and Bahrain signed a historic deal to normalise ties nine months ago.

With this, Lapid becomes the first senior official from the Jewish state to visit to the Gulf nation.

Lapid's office said he has been accompanied by a delegation of senior Israeli officials, including Foreign Ministry Director-General Alon Ushpiz, reports Xinhua news agency.

Upon his arrival, he said in a tweet: "Making history: Proud to represent the state of Israel on its first official visit to the United Arab Emirates. Thanks for the warm welcome."

During his two-day trip, he will inaugurate the Israeli embassy in the UAE's capital Abu Dhabi and the consulate in Dubai, according to the office.

Lapid, the centrist leader of the Yesh Atid party, was the driving force behind the forming of Israel's new cross-partisan coalition government which was approved by Parliament on June 14.

Israel and the UAE signed a US-brokered normalisation agreement in September 2020.

The UAE thus became the third Arab country after Egypt and Jordan to agree to formally normalise its ties with Israel.