Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has requested Ugandan leader Yoweri Kaguta Museveni to open an embassy in Jerusalem.
Netanyahu was hosted at Entebbe State Lounge in Uganda and the two leaders held closed door bilateral talks before they addressed the media on Monday evening.
Uganda will become the third nation to have its embassy in Jerusalem after U.S and Guatemala.
“I have a simple suggestion that you will have time to consider. You open an embassy in Jerusalem and I will open one in Kampala. We hope to do it in the near future,” Netanyahu said while addressing the media.
Museveni reacted saying he is “seriously considering working on the same.”
“If a friend says I want your embassy here, rather than there, I don’t see why we would refuse. We are really working on it. We are studying that,” Museveni said.
However, Jerusalem city is claimed by both Israel and Palestine.
But Museveni responded saying that is not a big deal.
“The good with all controversies is that there is a part of Jerusalem which under the partition plan was in Israel and was not part of the argument. At least that one is not part of the arguments,” Museveni explained.
President Museveni later announced on social media the outcome of the meeting he held with Netanyahu.
“We have had long discussions on bilateral issues. Uganda and Israel are cooperating in areas of; Agriculture, Security, Health sector and ICT among others. We also discussed the issue of opening embassies in the two countries.
Prime Minister Netanyahu has proposed the issue of having direct flights between Tel Aviv and Entebbe, and this is something we are going to take up, now that Uganda Airlines is operational.
Meanwhile, the Israeli national carrier can begin flying to Uganda as soon as they are ready. I thank PM Netanyahu and his wife for visiting Uganda and wish them well,” he posted on his Facebook page.
