TORONTO (AFP)---Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Canada on Friday for a four-day visit aimed at cementing ties with one of Israel's strongest backers in the international community.   

Netanyahu, on the first visit to Canada by an Israeli premier in 16 years, is hoping to build support ahead of talks next week with US President Barack Obama on the fragile US-brokered indirect peace talks with the Palestinians.
   

"I welcome the opportunity to spend time with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a leader of vision and conviction and a great friend of Israel and a champion of peace," Netanyahu said ahead of his arrival.   

Netanyahu said he planned to discuss Israel's "quest for peace" with the Palestinians and efforts to boost cooperation between Israel and Canada in the fields of high-tech, renewable energy and water conservation.   

"The friendship between Israel and Canada is exceptionally warm. We are sister democracies that seek peace with security, progress and prosperity," he told reporters on his plane.   

This is the first visit by an Israeli Prime Minister to Canada since Yitzhak Rabin toured in 1994.
   

Relations took a downturn after forged Canadian passports were used in a botched assassination attempt by Israel's Mossad intelligence agency against Hamas Chief Khaled Meshaal.   

The mission was approved by Netanyahu, then in his first term as Prime Minister.   

However, ties have warmed substantially since, with Canada giving Israel considerable support at international institutions, particularly the United Nations.
   

Netanyahu is scheduled to attend a pro-Israel rally by Canada's Jewish community in Toronto on Sunday, before travelling to Ottawa for meetings with government and opposition leaders.   

Netanyahu arrived in Toronto from Paris, where he accepted an invitation for Israel to join the prestigious Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

He attended a ceremony at the Paris headquarters of the organization as it welcomed Israel along with Estonia, Slovenia and Chile to the 31-nation grouping.
   

"We in Israel are deeply honoured by your invitation to join this club," Netanyahu said. "We see this not only as recognition of what we have achieved, but as a vote of confidence" for the future, he added.   

OECD membership means Israel's status with foreign investment funds switches from that of an emerging economy to a developed one, opening up new sources of capital.