President Isaac Herzog met Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Baku on Wednesday as part of the Seventh Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA).

Herzog thanked Aliyev for the warm welcome and extolled Azerbaijan’s role in the region as a hub of stability and international cooperation.

The two discussed ways to deepen the strategic cooperation between the two countries as well as recent regional developments.

Aliyev promised to strengthen Israeli-Azerbaijani cooperation and to advance practical cooperation between them.

“Israel and Azerbaijan share a unique relationship, one that has been developed over many years and has proven its importance in complex times as well. The friendship between our countries is of deep value, and we are committed to continuing to nurture it,” Herzog said.

Israel and Azerbaijan have been close strategic partners since Azerbaijan’s war of independence, when Israel supplied it with arms needed to secure its territory. Azerbaijan, meanwhile, has supplied a large portion of Israel’s oil.

Herzog in Cyprus: The unique Israel-Cyprus relationshipHerzog in Cyprus: The unique Israel-Cyprus relationship