Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostanyan was set to arrive in Israel on Tuesday, amid a thaw in bilateral relations between the two countries.

The visit is the first since Armenia and its former arch-rival Azerbaijan signed a U.S.-brokered agreement this summer to end decades of conflict, a development that has also improved ties between Yerevan and Jerusalem.

The Armenian deputy foreign minister will hold annual “political consultations” at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs during his first-ever visit to Israel, officials said.

Next month, the Armenian high commissioner for diaspora affairs is also scheduled to make an official visit to Israel.

Armenia briefly recalled its ambassador to Israel in 2020 in protest of Israeli arms sales to oil-rich Azerbaijan during that year’s war between the two former Soviet republics.

At the same time, Israel has watched warily as predominantly Christian Armenia has grown into an increasingly significant trade partner of the Islamic Republic of Iran in recent years, even as Yerevan maintains a professed desire for good relations with the Jewish state.

The complex geopolitics have strained Israeli-Armenian ties as the two countries navigate their regional interests.

The August peace accord signed at the White House also provided an opportunity to reset relations between Armenia and Israel—two ancient peoples with modern tragedies and large diaspora populations.

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