"Azerbaijan and Israel are ready to jointly meet challenges and threats"
Experts Mesamed, Musabayov talk to Caliber.Az

ANALYTICS  23 April 2023 - 11:33

The visit of Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, accompanied by a large group of experts and specialists to Azerbaijan, marked a new stage in relations between our countries, and its prologue was the opening of the Azerbaijani embassy in Israel. The agenda of Cohen's stay in Baku, of course, confirmed this fact. In addition to negotiations at the Foreign Ministry, the Israeli minister was received by President Ilham Aliyev. At the same time, a meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission of Azerbaijan and Israel was held. The list of topics discussed, and areas of cooperation has significantly expanded since the visit of Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov to Israel. And the enemies of our countries were even more worried about, in their opinion, the close and already quite fruitful cooperation between Azerbaijan and Israel.

Meanwhile, in Israel itself, the last days are full of Iranian themes. Israeli political analyst and expert in Iranian studies Vladimir Mesamed, a member of the Institute of Asian and African Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, told Caliber.Az that the Crown Prince of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, has been in Tel Aviv for several days now with a message of peace and friendship from the entire Iranian nation.

“It is clear that all the threats to wipe Israel off the face of the earth, heard from the Iranian regime, are unrealistic, and against this background, the message of Prince Pahlavi is exactly the opposite of the rhetoric of statements from Tehran. The policy of good neighborliness proposed by Reza Pahlavi is exactly what makes it possible to eliminate the negative that has been flowing from Tehran for the past 40 years. Moreover, there is another positive event: the Israeli embassy in Turkmenistan is opening, and we are glad that this has also happened because relations between our countries have been building for several decades,” the political scientist said.

The third encouraging trend, according to the Israeli expert, is a whole chain of events related to relations between Israel and Azerbaijan, which is even more important than all of the above.

"I mentioned Iran, but these events - the opening of the Azerbaijani embassy in Israel, and the visit of Israeli Foreign Minister Cohen to Azerbaijan are also directly related to Iran. After all, having brought to its logical conclusion the building of good neighborly relations with Azerbaijan, we, our countries, are responding to all the threats that come to us from Iran. There have been a lot of them lately, and we understand that it is Iran that is behind the shelling of Israel from Lebanon, and the fact that we have an intensifying confrontation with Syria and shots are being fired from its territory is also connected with Iran,” Mesamed said.

Against this background, according to him, the visit of Minister Eli Cohen to Baku is a remarkable event.

“We greatly value our relations with Azerbaijan, for Israel it is an advanced country in the post-Soviet space, with which we are developing a fruitful dialogue. And, in fact, President Aliyev spoke about this at a meeting with the Israeli minister, when he noted that Azerbaijan wants to develop relations with Israel in various areas - politics, economics, and security. All this naturally resonates with the opening of the embassy and the elimination of asymmetries in our relations. And the fact that these ties will develop more dynamically is evidenced by the meeting of the Joint Commission of the two countries held in Baku. After all, now the economy is being modernized in Azerbaijan, and Israel will try to make its contribution to this,” the political scientist said.

In addition to strengthening cooperation in the oil sector, Mesamed considered it necessary to point out the joint work related to the problem of water desalination, in which Israel has significant achievements and technologies, which Azerbaijan really needs. At the same time, “green” vectors of cooperation are also planned - environmental protection, the creation of renewable energy sources, as well as common activities in the field of digital technologies and the digital economy.

“This is what we have and what is being gradually introduced in Azerbaijan. I think that the Israeli delegation that arrived in Baku with Foreign Minister Cohen included specialists from various fields. I hope that there will be progress in the area that Iran views with apprehension, which is security and military cooperation. Iran is concerned about this, they understand that Israeli weapons also played a role in the victory in the 44-day war, but a perfect weapon is a guarantee of non-aggression and preemption of any threats. And therefore now joint ventures in this area will be created in Azerbaijan and Israel, and we have great opportunities for the supply of appropriate equipment and technologies. All of the above will lead to the strengthening of relations between our countries,” Mesamed said.

At the same time, Azerbaijani political scientist, MP Rasim Musabayov, considers that Israeli Minister Cohen's visit to Azerbaijan is not just a return visit.

It was aimed at developing and strengthening relations between the countries, emerging trends that allow characterizing the Azerbaijani-Israeli relations as relations raised to the level of strategic partnership. Of course, it also plays an important role that Azerbaijan ensuring Israel's energy security with oil supplies from Ceyhan. Let me remind you that at the meeting in Baku, the importance of SOCAR's participation in the exploitation of hydrocarbon resources in Israel was emphasized,” the MP stressed.

According to him, very serious projects are being added to the traditional cooperation in the field of security, the military-industrial complex, related to the use of the experience of Israeli technologies in the field of agriculture.

Very serious projects are being added to the traditional cooperation in the field of security, the military-industrial complex, related to the use of the experience of Israeli technologies in the field of agriculture.

“Let's not forget that in a very unfavorable environment for the development of agriculture, Israel was able to organize it in a highly intensive way, while Israel is now an exporter of agricultural products. Israel's experience in water management is also very important. All this will be very useful for Azerbaijan.

Well, the traditional direction is cybersecurity, here Israel has already seriously helped us, and this area of cooperation will only grow stronger. In today's realities, cybersecurity is becoming almost the main element of national security. There is also tourism, and ties between people, in this context, Azerbaijan and Israel have great prospects,” Musabayov noted.

In addition, according to him, another important event is expected - the visit of the Israeli President Herzog to Azerbaijan, and the parties certainly specified the details of the upcoming mission.

“It is clear that the parties are facing challenges in the face of Iran, but still, if you paid attention, this moment was not particularly highlighted. But I think that both Azerbaijan and Israel are monitoring Iran's hostile actions, and if they take, let's say, an unacceptable form, apparently, our countries are ready to give them the necessary joint rebuff,” Musabayov concluded.

Caliber.Az