Paraguayan President confirms his visit to Israel to open the embassy in Jerusalem

Paraguayan President Santiago Peña has confirmed that he will visit Israel next week, where he plans to meet with senior officials and businessmen and formally inaugurate the Paraguayan embassy in Jerusalem, whose transfer from Tel Aviv he announced at the beginning of his term in office in August of last year.

At a press conference following the XVII Plenary Meeting of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes held in Paraguay, the Head of State announced that he will visit Israel next week after visiting France, where he was invited by his counterpart Emmanuel Macron to participate in a meeting of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The president said he will remain in Israel for two days where he will hold meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, officials of the Israeli Parliament (Knesset) and representatives of universities and the business sector.

“For us, this is a very important agenda. Israel has historically been an ally of Paraguay. Paraguay has historically been an ally,” said the president, who reaffirmed the “very clear, forceful and without any margin of doubt” position of defending the Hebrew State in the conflict unleashed after the attack by the terrorist group Hamas on October 7, 2023.

"In this sense, we are tremendously committed to peace and in this conflict we are supporting our historical friend, the State of Israel," he said.

On September 18, Peña announced the inauguration of the Paraguayan diplomatic legation in Jerusalem at a ceremony to reopen the Israeli Embassy in Asunción, which had been closed for six years.

The Paraguayan embassy in Israel, traditionally located in Tel Aviv, had been moved to Jerusalem in May 2018 during the mandate of President Horacio Cartes (2013-2018), but his successor, Mario Abdo Benítez (2018-2023), reversed his decision months later. EFE