(TPS) Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, Jerusalem Affairs Minister Ze’ev Elkin, U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and a delegation of Knesset members joined Guatemalan President Jimmy Morale and Foreign Minister Sandra Jovel Wednesday as the Central American nation returned its embassy to Jerusalem after a 37-year absence.

Ahead of the ceremony, Israeli and Guatemalan officials called the occasion an “historic event,” ahead of Netanyahu’s praise for Guatemala City’s consistent support for Israel on the international stage. Netanyahu noted that Guatemala was the second country to recognize Israel in 1948, and a year earlier Guatemalan Ambassador to the United Nations Jorge Granados played a pivotal role in lobbying member states to support the partition plan that Netanyahu said was essentially the UN’s stamp of approval for Israeli independence, before pledging to visit Guatemala on his next visit to Central America.

“We remember our friends,” Netanyahu said. “And Guatemala is our friend—then, and now.”