Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Oded Forer visited the so-called "smart villages" in Azerbaijan – located just several kilometers from the Iranian border – to examine the Israeli technology that was put in place as part of the development of the project.
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Forer also met Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who several years prior chose Israel to be a partner in developing the country's flagship agricultural project that aims to develop rural areas through advanced technology. The first residents of the villages are expected to begin settling the villages in the coming weeks.
"I appreciate the opportunity to visit the smart village near the border with Iran and see Israeli knowledge and technology build life," Forer said. "It is wonderful to see Israeli agriculture – a national pride – break boundaries."
The news comes after several months of tensions between Baku and Tehran after Iran accused Azerbaijan of hosting Israeli military and intelligence bases in its terrotory. The Islamist Republic went on to hold military drills close to the countries' shared border, vowing to never "tolerate the presence of the Zionist regime" near its borders, an allusion to Azerbaijan's friendly relations with Israel.
In response, during one of his visits to the Iranian border, Aliyev purposefully showed off Israeli-made drones as a sign of refusal to succumb to Iranian threats.
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