Will Luxembourg open an embassy in Israel, probably in Tel Aviv, in the coming months? While the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Xavier Bettel, confirmed the existence of analyzes in progress at the end of September, the question arose again in recent days during his visit to the Middle East. “It was one line of thought among others,” responds this time to The essentials the minister's entourage. The discussions continue, there is no decision yet.”
In addition to Israel, there would be talk of opening a diplomatic representation in Ramallah for Palestine, in the West Bank. In this case a cooperation office. In recent weeks, our colleagues from Land wrote that a “proposal” could be made to the government council “by the end of the year”. No confirmation in this sense, therefore, for the moment. Priority is given to discussions with the authorities to obtain a ceasefire.
The stakes, obviously, are very high while the region is at war. For the moment, on the diplomatic level with Israel, Luxembourg is represented by the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Tel Aviv, which is also Luxembourg's point of contact for political affairs with the Palestinian Territories. Concerning consular affairs, competence for Luxembourg is handed over to the embassy of the Kingdom of Belgium in Tel Aviv for the link with Israel, in Jerusalem for the link with the Palestinian Territories.
On a general level, the Grand Duchy today has 45 embassies around the world and six consulates general. In Israel there is also the Luxembourg Trade and Investment Offices (LTIO), based in Tel Aviv. This Trade and Investment Office “facilitates the expansion of activities in Luxembourg” and supports “companies based in Luxembourg in establishing and developing their activities in the Israeli market”.
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