On 12 July 2026, Comendador Anthony Bailey, Honorary Consul-General of His Majesty The King of Tonga to the Portuguese Republic, attended a reception at the Pestana Palace Hotel in Lisbon marking the 78th anniversary of the independence of the State of Israel.
The reception was hosted by H.E. Oren Rozenblat, Ambassador of the State of Israel to the Portuguese Republic, and Mrs Riki Rozenblat, and brought together representatives of the Portuguese authorities, members of the diplomatic corps and guests from Portuguese public and civic life.
The Kingdom of Tonga and the State of Israel established diplomatic relations in 1977 and have maintained warm and friendly relations for almost five decades, including significant Royal, parliamentary and governmental exchanges.
The late King George Tupou V had a longstanding association with Israel, first visiting the country on 21 December 1980 as Crown Prince Tupoutoʻa and his last visit to Israel was in March 2012, shortly before his passing.
On 7 April 2011, Reuven Rivlin, then Speaker of the Knesset and later President of the State of Israel, made the first official visit to Tonga by a Speaker of the Israeli Parliament and was received in audience by HM King George Tupou V.
More recently, HM King Tupou VI received H.E. Ran Yaakoby, Israel’s Ambassador to Tonga, in October 2022. Ambassador Yaakoby subsequently visited Tonga in June 2023, meeting Prime Minister Hon. Huʻakavameiliku Siaosi Sovaleni on 21 June 2023. Israel and Tonga have also cooperated in areas including health, agriculture, water management and renewable energy.
The reception in Lisbon on 12 July 2026 provided a welcome opportunity to celebrate the longstanding friendship between the Kingdom of Tonga and the State of Israel and to maintain the Consulate-General’s engagement with the Embassy of Israel in Portugal. Consul-General Anthony Bailey has visited Israel on several occasions the last of which was in October 2016.
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