Israel and the Central Asian country of Tajikistan have signed their first bilateral agreement in the field of tourism, during a landmark visit by an Israeli minister to the Muslim nation.
The milestone in the relations between the countries, which established ties on March 26, 1992, after the fall of the Soviet Union, highlights the potential for cooperation between the Jewish state and Muslim former Soviet republics in the wake of the 2020 Abraham Accords.
Israeli Tourism Minister Haim Katz and Jumakhonzoda Jamshed Jurakhon, chairman of the Committee for Tourism Development of the Republic of Tajikistan, inked the memorandum of understanding on Thursday at the UN Tourism Investment Forum in Dushanbe, in the first official visit by an Israeli minister to the country.
“Tourism is a bridge between peoples, bringing unique opportunities for international cooperation,” Katz said in a statement. “Even during this challenging time, I met representatives of countries with which we have no official relations and was received with friendship.”
The agreement aims to expand cooperation in tourism, complementing existing collaborations in agriculture and rural development.
The landlocked developing Central Asian country of some 11 million people, which is more than 90% mountainous, borders Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and China.
Israel is represented in Tajikistan by its non-resident ambassador based in neighboring Uzbekistan.
During his visit, Katz also met with Montenegro’s Tourism Minister Simonida Kordić, who is also chairman of the U.N. World Tourism Organization’s Commission for Europe, and Uzbekistan’s Minister of Tourism and Cultural Heritage Aziz Abdukhakimov, as well as senior officials from the local tourism industry.
