"Our relations can be closer with Israel, and with the Eilat-Ashkelon Pipeline we can get to the Red Sea and India, and all the world is open to us," Azerbaijani Minister of Industry and Energy Natig Aliyev told Israeli Minister of National Infrastructures Binyamin Ben-Eliezer at a meeting at Aliyev's office.

Ben-Eliezer said he hoped for a "special arrangement" for the two countries -- "two small countries suffering from almost the same problems," he said.

He called for Azerbaijan and Israel to "increase and deepen our relationship." Later in the meeting, after taking a call from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Ben-Eliezer reported to Aliyev that Olmert sent his regards and his support for fostering the countries' relationship.

On Tuesday, Ben-Eliezer met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev for nearly an hour. Ben-Eliezer emerged from the meeting enthusing about the president, and his advisers said the meeting had been fraternal and joke-filled.

Israeli sources expect the Israeli-Azerbaijani relationship to develop much more slowly than the meetings might have indicated, saying that was the way diplomacy worked. Azerbaijan does not have an embassy in Israel, though both Minister Aliyev and President Aliyev said they would visit Israel.

/www.upi.com/