Liberian senior officials said June 8 the country intends to open a trade office in Jerusalem that will eventually become an embassy. Israeli press was citing members of a visiting Liberian delegation headed by Minister of State for Presidential Affairs Nathaniel McGill. Accompanying the minister of state to the meeting with Israeli President Yitzhak Herzog were Minister of Commerce and Industry Mawine Diggs, Minister of Agriculture Jeanine Cooper and Minister of Information, Culture Affairs and Tourism Ledgerhood Rennie.

Liberia had severed diplomatic ties with Israel following the 1973 Yom Kippur War, but then restored them in 1983. Over the years, relations deepened even further, with the signing of bilateral cooperation agreements on aviation, economy and technology. The two countries also cooperate on security. Liberian President George Weah visited Israel in 2019 and met with then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The two leaders had met two years earlier, before Weah was elected president, during a one-day visit of Netanyahu to Liberia for a summit of the Economic Community of West African States.

Despite full diplomatic relations, Nigeria does not have an embassy in Israel, and Israel does not have an embassy in Nigeria. Israel’s Ambassador to Ghana Shlomit Sufa is also accredited to Liberia. A senior Israeli diplomat told Al-Monitor recently that Israel does not plan to open in the near future additional embassies in Africa, due to budgetary constraints.

The visiting Liberian delegation held a series of high-profile meetings in Israel, including with President Isaac Herzog who hailed the warm bilateral relations, and with Deputy Foreign Minister Idan Roll.