Israel has joined the inter-governmental Pacific Islands Forum as a partner offering climate change adaptation and water management expertise, its foreign ministry said Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Israel has beefed up its ties with the Pacific, with tiny Nauru opening an embassy in Jerusalem last month, joining a handful of nations bucking international pressure to recognise Israeli sovereignty in the holy city.<\/p>\n
Papua New Guinea and Fiji are also among just seven UN member-states with embassies in Jerusalem — including the United States — with Samoa set to join them later this year.<\/p>\n
The 18-member Pacific Islands bloc has found itself at the centre of a geopolitical contest for influence, and counts the United States, China, France and Britain among 30 so-called development partners.<\/p>\n
As major powers jostle for military and economic ties, Pacific leaders agreed last month to reform the bloc’s partnerships with nations outside the region into strategic and sector partners.<\/p>\n
Israel has joined as a sector partner, its foreign ministry said, in an announcement that coincided with a visit to Fiji and Samoa by the head of Israel’s international aid agency MASHAV, Eynat Shlein.<\/p>\n
“The cooperation will focus on regional priorities, drawing on Israel’s expertise in water management, desalination, agriculture, climate change adaptation, innovation and sustainable development,” the statement said.<\/p>\n
The forum did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar visited the forum headquarters in Fiji’s capital Suva in June.<\/p>\n
“Strengthening relations with the Pacific Island nations is one of the foreign minister’s priorities,” the ministry said in a statement.<\/p>\n
“As part of these efforts, Israel opened an embassy in Fiji earlier this year, which also serves nine additional Pacific Island nations that maintain friendly relations with Israel.”<\/p>\n
The forum said in a statement on Facebook that a meeting with MASHAV’s Shlein provided an opportunity for Pacific countries to share “development challenges and capacity-building needs, and to explore practical opportunities for knowledge-sharing and partnerships”.<\/p>\n
Pacific Islands nations have often proven some of Israel’s most steadfast supporters on the international stage.<\/p>\n
Many parts of the region hold deep-rooted beliefs in Old Testament prophecy, which holds that Jews are destined to one day return to the Land of Israel.<\/p>\n
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