Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu started today a four-day tour in Africa to find new commercial partners.

Uganda is the Prime Minister’s first destination in Africa since 1994 when Yitzhak Rabin was in Casablanca. There, Mr. Netanyahu will commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Entebbe raid in which his older brother, the Colonel Jonathan Netanyahu, lost his life. At the time, members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijacked a plane and took Israelis hostage.

Other countries that the Prime Minister is to visit include Kenya, Ethiopia and Rwanda, three nations whose respective economies have been growing strongly for some years now.

Israel’s head of State should inaugurate in all four countries he is visiting, offices of the Israeli Agency for International Development.

“It is part of a major effort on our part to return to Africa in a big way. This is important for Israeli companies and for the countries of Africa also,” Netanyahu told his cabinet on Sunday.

Netanyahu’s office said prior to the tour that €11.7 million would be granted as aid to “strengthen economic ties and cooperation with African nations”, with no further details.