Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar departed for a diplomatic visit to Zambia on Tuesday to inaugurate Israel’s embassy in the southern African nation, some eight months after plans to install a new permanent diplomatic mission were first announced.
In a statement ahead of Sa’ar’s departure, the Foreign Ministry said he would meet with Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema, Foreign Minister Mulambo Haimbe, and Speaker of Parliament Nelly Mutti to discuss “a series of initiatives” aimed at strengthening bilateral ties.
The inauguration ceremony at the embassy itself is scheduled for Wednesday, the Foreign Ministry said, and “marks an important step in deepening bilateral ties with Zambia.”
The decision to open a permanent embassy in Lusaka “forms part of a broader initiative to expand and strengthen relations with African nations,” one of Sa’ar’s “strategic goals” for the ministry this year, the Foreign Ministry added.
Israel and Zambia first established diplomatic ties in 1966, two years after Zambia gained independence from the United Kingdom. But relations were severed at the behest of the Organization of African Unity in the wake of Israel’s 1973 Yom Kippur War, and Israel’s diplomatic presence across Africa became greatly reduced.
The two countries re-established ties in 1991, but it wasn’t until 2015 that Zambia opened an embassy in Tel Aviv.
Israel, meanwhile, had sufficed with a non-residential ambassador to Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana, until in January of this year, Sa’ar announced the country’s first permanent embassy would be opened in Lusaka.
Standing alongside his Zambian counterpart, Mulambo Haimbe, on his first visit to Israel in June, Sa’ar expressed regret that Israel had taken so long to re-establish an Israeli embassy in Lusaka, calling it a “mistake.”
“In the past, relations between Israel and Africa flourished,” Sa’ar said. “Unfortunately, they decreased with the years. We are now changing direction.”
He said he was sure that opening an embassy in Zambia “will bring our nations closer.”
Days before Haimbe’s visit, the government had approved the appointment of Ofra Farhi — Israel’s non-resident ambassador to Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana — as the new ambassador to Zambia.
She will retain her non-resident posts while taking up her position in Lusaka.
Farhi previously served as Israel’s deputy ambassador to Italy, as director of the Foreign Relations Department within MASHAV, the Foreign Ministry’s Agency for International Development Cooperation, and as director of the ministry’s US and Eurasia Economy Department.
On his way to Zambia on Tuesday, Sa’ar is also scheduled to stop in Addis Ababa to meet with his Ethiopian counterpart, Gedion Timotheos, the Foreign Ministry said. It will be Sa’ar’s fourth meeting with the minister since taking office in November 2024.
Also on the list of African nations with which Israel is seeking to strengthen ties is South Sudan. Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel traveled there last week for the first official visit by an Israeli government representative, and on Monday, the Foreign Ministry announced that it would provide the troubled East African nation with humanitarian aid as it battles a deadly cholera outbreak amid reports Israel was seeking to convince Juba to take in Gazan refugees.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.