In a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, Paraguayan President Santiago Pena reiterated the commitment that his country’s embassy will move to Jerusalem by the end of the year.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the Israeli embassy will return to Asuncion, Paraguay’s capital. The agreement will lift Israeli-Paraguayan relations to “new heights,” per a readout from the prime minister’s office.
“I’m very happy to say that President Santiago Pena and I had a very productive discussion about upgrading the relations of Paraguay and Israel,” Netanyahu stated.
Pena stated that he was “very proud” to make the announcement.
“Prime Minister, almost three years ago I visited Jerusalem. I was just a politician dreaming about a different Paraguay,” he stated. “I said to you in that meeting that Paraguay will reopen and will put the embassy where it belongs, in the city of Jerusalem.”
“Our history brought us together,” he added. “The present brings us together. But the future will have us more closer that we’ve been ever before.”
Paraguay was the third country to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 2018, after former President Donald Trump moved the U.S. embassy and Guatemala followed suit.
But several months later, newly elected President Mario Abdo Benítez reversed the decision and moved the embassy back to Tel Aviv. Israel responded by shuttering its embassy in Asuncion.
Pena was sworn into office in August. (ANI/TPS)
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