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Reuters
Reuters
ASHGABAT (Reuters) -Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen inaugurated a permanent embassy in the Central Asian nation of Turkmenistan on Thursday, establishing his country’s closest diplomatic presence to Iran, as Israel seeks to strengthen ties to its arch-foe’s neighbours. Although the countries established diplomatic relations 30 years ago, there had only been a temporary Israeli mission in Ashgabat and predominantly Muslim Turkmenistan still has no embassy in Israel. “I came to open an Israeli embassy 17 kilometres from the border with Iran, and to hold a series of meetings with the president…