Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant received his Albanian counterpart Niko Peleshi on Monday. The two men held a working meeting at the military’s headquarters and signed a unique Memorandum of Understanding to promote joint security and defense infrastructure.

During their meeting, the ministers discussed ways of deepening bilateral security ties, and expanding Israel's defense exports to Albania. The previous such step was when the two countries increased their cooperation, after an Iranian cyber attack on the European country. Tirana even severed diplomatic ties with Tehran.

The two countries have maintained close diplomatic relations since 1991, when the communist regime fell, and increased their trade and security ties over that time. In 2020, Albania became the first Muslim-majority country to adopt the IHRA's definition of anti-Semitism.

Unusual to Europe, Albania had a larger Jewish population at the end of World War II than at the war's beginning. The country committed itself to saving Albanian Jews, a historic act of heroism and sacrifice.

The German and Dutch defense ministries have also recently made historic steps toward greater cooperation with Israel. The Netherlands signed their first-ever defense export agreement with Jerusalem in May, at the time, it was one of the largest purchases by a European country of an Israeli system, worth $305 million. In June, Germany approved the $4.3 billion acquisition of the Arrow 3 defense system.