Dubai, June 29

Israel's new Foreign Minister touched down on Tuesday in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), beginning the first high-level trip by an Israeli official to the Gulf Arab state since the two countries normalised relations last year.

Yair Lapid inaugurated Israel embassy in the UAE and offered an olive branch to other former adversaries, saying: "We're here to stay."

The trip is also an opportunity for the two-week-old Israel Government of Naftali Bennett, a nationalist who heads an improbable cross-partisan coalition, to make diplomatic inroads despite long-stymied talks with the Palestinians. "Israel wants peace with its neighbours - with all its neighbours. We aren't going anywhere. The Middle East is our home," Lapid said during the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Abu Dhabi high-rise office serving as a temporary embassy. "We're here to stay. We call on all the countries of the region to recognise that and to come to talk to us," he said. — Agencies