UAE foreign minister calls up Jaishankar to discuss peace deal with Israel

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday held telephonic talks with his counterpart from the United Arab Emirates Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan on the gulf nation's historic peace deal with Israel that paved way for establishment of full diplomatic ties between the two countries.

In a tweet, Jaishankar said full normalisation of relations between the UAE and Israel was discussed during the telephonic call.

"Deeply appreciate the call today from FM HH @ABZayed of UAE. Discussed the full normalisation of relations between UAE and Israel announced yesterday," he said.

The UAE and Israel finalised the deal with an aim to normalise their bilateral relationship, seen as a major development in moving ahead with peace initiatives in the Middle East.

Under the deal, Israel agreed to halt plans to annex parts of the West Bank which the Palestinians want as part of an independent state.

Almost all the Arab nations do not recognise Israel and they have no diplomatic ties with it.

Jaishankar also held telephonic talks with Foreign Affairs Minister of Nigeria Geoffrey Onyeama.

"Just concluded a phone call with FM @GeoffreyOnyeama of Nigeria. Good discussion on the multilateral challenges facing the world. Also spoke of our development partnership. Look forward to continuing the conversation," the external affairs minister tweeted.