On Tuesday, December, 1, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman will arrive in Athens to attend the meeting of Foreign Ministers of the counries belonging to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). In the capital of Greece the head of Israeli diplomacy planned 15 meetings, including the meetings with colleagues from Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Moldova.

Conducting of this forum is dedicated to the transfer of powers under the chairmanship of the OSCE from Greece to Kazakhstan, which will effectively lead this organization during the next year.

The transition of the presidential credentials to Astana OSCE has become one of the factors that contributed to the intensification of the Israeli diplomacy in the Caspian region, and relations with Kazakhstan in particular. As already reported the portal IzRus, since the early 2009-th the republic was visited by the President Shimon Peres and the Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, as well as by three other members of the government, and by the future chairman of the Inter-Parliamentary Association “Israel-Kazakhstan” Faina Kirshenbaum.

Simultaneously, there was activation of Jerusalem in the relations with neighboring Kazakhstan on the Caspian Sea - Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. Since the beginning of the year Peres traveled to Baku, and Lieberman has held talks in Prague with President Aliyev and Azerbaijani counterpart Mammadyarov in New York. We are now preparing the visit of Foreign Minister of Israel in this republic, scheduled for early next year.

Simultaneously, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have taken the leading position among the countries of the Muslim faith, in the scale of economic partnership with Israel.

In addition, in April an agreement was reached on the opening of the Israeli Embassy in Turkmenistan (expected to happen in the first months of next year).

Among the major Muslim states of the CIS, only Uzbekistan has remained outside the regional activation of Israel. Even before taking office, Lieberman called the development of relations with the republic one of his priorities. Shortly after this time as foreign minister, he made the first attempt “to test the ground” for reviving relations with Tashkent. Now, according to the diplomatic sources of the portal IzRus, it was decided to take a more massive action in this direction. Of particular importance is the establishment of direct dialogue with the leadership of this populous Central Asian republics.

The head of the Department of Central Europe and Eurasia Pinhas Avivi joined the preparatory work with all his might, he believes that the revival of ties with Uzbekistan is one of his most important tasks. Assistance in providing this and other senior of diplomatic corps, who has unique experience in the Uzbek direction. In addition, options for enhancing the inter-parliamentary contacts are also considered. The native of Andijan, faction chairman of “Israel Our Home” and the head of the parliamentary subcommittee on foreign policy, Robert Ilatov, who plans to visit Tashkent by the end of December, may contribute to this.

Against this background, Lieberman and Avivi, departed for Athens on November 29, emphasize on the upcoming meeting of the heads of diplomatic offices of Israel and Uzbekistan.