Croatian Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Gordan Grlic Radman said during his official visit to Israel on Monday that Croatia supported the normalisation of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

Grlic Radman met in Jerusalem with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Alternate Prime Minister and Defence Minister Benny Gantz, Speaker of the Knesset Yariv Levin, Minister of Foreign Affairs Gabi Ashkenazi and Minister of Tourism Asaf Zamir.

“I congratulated them on the news of the normalisation of relations with the United Arab Emirates,” Grlic Radman said in a press release, welcoming the announcement of new agreements in the Middle East.

The agreement on the normalisation of relations, brokered by Washington, was announced on August 13, and the UAE became the first Arab country to establish relations with Israel in more than 20 years, after Egypt and Jordan. The catalyst for the agreement was their mutual antagonism of Iran.

The Palestinians are angry over the UAE’s move and concerned that the agreement will weaken the pan-Arab position, which includes a call on Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories and recognise the Palestinian state in exchange for establishing diplomatic ties with Arab countries.

Grlic Radman said that his Israeli counterpart Ashkenazi supported Croatia’s bid to join the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, and that they agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding on a strategic partnership between the two ministries.

As part of his visit, the Croatian minister visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust Remembrance Centre.