Five new ambassadors present credentials to Peres

Of the 5 new ambassadors, Lars Faaborg Andersen, who heads the EU Delegation has been waiting the longest to present his credentials.

By GREER FAY CASHMAN
Andrea Pasternac, the Ambassador of Romania (photo credit: Mark Nieman / GPO)
Andrea Pasternac, the Ambassador of Romania
(photo credit: Mark Nieman / GPO)
Five new ambassadors presented their credentials to President Shimon Peres on Thursday.
Of the five, Lars Faaborg-Andersen, who heads the European Union Delegation, has been waiting the longest to present his credentials – EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton announced his appointment in March of last year by.
Faaborg-Andersen arrived in Israel in early September, and was told that he would present his credentials on December 18, but the ceremony for him and his colleagues was postponed due to inclement weather.
The other presentations were by Moldovan Ambassador Anatol Vangheli, Romanian Ambassador Andrea Pasternac, Belarus Ambassador Vladimir Skvortsov and Muhammed Haji Hamza, the non-resident ambassador of Tanzania, who is also ambassador to Egypt, and is stationed in Cairo.
Faaborg-Andersen has had a distinguished career, spanning almost 30 years in the Danish Foreign Ministry. In recent years, a series of appointments brought him into close contact with Middle East issues, including the Middle East peace process. He served as Denmark’s Middle East peace envoy for several years and, before his present appointment, was ambassador to the Political and Security Committee of the EU.
Peres said that he was particularly pleased that the head of the EU delegation was from Denmark because of the way the country treated its Jews during the Second World War.
This is Vangheli’s third stint in Israel – his first was as chargé d’affairs from 2004 to 2007. He served as counselor in 2010, and in last August was promoted to ambassador.
Vangheli emphasized Moldova’s commitment to fighting terrorism and stamping out anti-Semitism.
Pasternac served in Israel as her country’s cultural attaché some 15 years ago and speaks fluent Hebrew.
Peres credited Romania for being a facilitator for Middle East peace, and recalled its role as the mediator for the historic visit to Jerusalem by Egyptian president Anwar Sadat in 1977.
Since his arrival in Israel, Skvortsov has been active in boosting trade between Israel and Belarus and is trying to achieve kashrut certification for Belarus food products.
He met with Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman last month, and they discussed the expansion of political, economic and cultural ties.