(TPS) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week welcomed Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa in Jerusalem, Jansa’s first visit outside of Europe, a fact Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi said is “an expression of the warm relations between Israel and Slovenia.”

The countries signed a joint statement on cooperation in the field of technological innovation.

Netanyahu said that “this is an opportunity to begin a new dawn in the relationship between Slovenia and Israel. I feel like this is the closing line of the movie Casablanca: ‘This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.’”

He also thanked Jansa and Slovenia for designating Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, the latest country to do so.