The New Zealand government is encouraged as Israeli President Moshe Katsav said sorry over last year's spy scandal during a television interview, but is still pursuing an official apology, daily newspaper The Dominion Post reported Monday.

Israeli President Katsav told an Australian current affairs show Sunday that he was "very sorry about the last development in our relations with New Zealand" and said he regretted what had happened.

It is the first time a senior Israeli official has used the word "sorry" in relation to the affair, a further indication that Israel, which is well-versed in diplomatic speak, is serious abouttrying to repair the damage between the two countries.

Relations have been chilly since Israel refused to apologize for what New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark described as "utterly unacceptable" behavior surrounding two alleged Mossad agents, Uriel Zoshe Kelman and Eli Cara, who tried to fraudulently obtain New Zealand passports.

They were deported in September last year after serving two months of their six-month prison sentences.

The paper said that diplomats were negotiating the text of an apology, but this had not yet been finalized.

"The president's comments are encouraging and we look forward to progressing the matter through diplomatic channels," Clark said Sunday night through her spokesman, but she would not comment further.

Katsav's comments came on the eve of a week-long state visit to Australia. He was not invited to New Zealand, which has imposed strict diplomatic sanctions pending an apology from Israel.

Source: Xinhua