2nd Israeli minister visits Saudi Arabia in days

ANKARA

Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi arrived in Saudi Arabia on Sunday to attend the 4th Extraordinary Congress of the Universal Postal Union (UPU), according to Israeli media.

Karhi's visit comes a few days after Tourism Minister Haim Katz visited the Arab kingdom on Sept. 26 to attend a UN tourism event.

The Israeli minister is set to speak at the UPU event, which will last till Oct. 5, The Times of Israel newspaper reported.

The UPU traditionally convenes every four years, but an extraordinary congress may also be convened in the intervening years upon the consent of at least two-thirds of member countries. It usually discusses world postal strategy and sets standards for international mail exchanges.

There was no comment yet from the Saudi authorities on the Israeli minister’s visit.

Recent months have seen US efforts to strike a deal to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia and Israel don’t have diplomatic relations and Riyadh insists that any deal to normalize ties with Tel Aviv must include a component advancing efforts to establish a Palestinian state, concessions that Israel has so far flatly rebuffed.

Six Arab countries have diplomatic ties with Israel, starting with Egypt in 1979, Jordan in 1994, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain in September 2020, and then Sudan and Morocco later that year.