AAPI Monthly Newsletters
AAPI Newsletter: June 2022
July 01, 2022
Throughout June 2022, diplomatic ties continued to deepen, as Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett visited Abu Dhabi where he met with UAE’s President Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed as well as other Emirati leaders.
The end of the month saw a major follow-up to March’s historic “Negev Summit” held in Bahrain. Israel’s Foreign Ministry Director-General led an Israeli delegation that visited Bahrain for a series of talks on growing bilateral relations. Additionally, following the announcement that Morocco will officially open an embassy in Israel in July, the Israeli Interior Minister visited Morocco for the first time, where she met with a series of senior officials, signed an agreement to enable Moroccan workers to come to Israel, and publicly backed Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara.
Finally, members of the bi-partisan Abraham Accords Caucus in the House and Senate introduced the Deterring Enemy Forces and Enabling National Defenses (DEFEND) Act, which would require the United States to help Israel, Egypt, Jordan, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and several other Arab states to integrate air defense systems.
On the economic front, major investment deals were announced in the health sector, the agricultural technology sector, the water sector, and many others. In another sign of the increasing momentum behind deepening economic ties, one of Dubai’s three chambers of commerce, announced that it will open a representative office in Tel Aviv to facilitate trade and investment between the business communities.
An Egyptian trade delegation of industrial leaders visited Israel, the first visit of its kind in a decade. At the same time, in a demonstration of the potential for Accords countries to cooperate on pressing issues beyond their borders, the UAE’s federal export credit company and the Israel Export Insurance Corp. Ltd. (Ashra) announced that they will work together on a massive healthcare project in Ghana, which will result in the construction of four hospitals and the first main central medical storage facility in Ghana.
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With the arrival of summer, tourism between Accords countries will be aided by several major recent developments such as the launch of daily service from Dubai to Tel Aviv on Emirates Airlines and the announcement that Israeli citizens will now be eligible for e-visas to enter Morocco, ending the requirement that Israeli citizens make appointments for interviews at the Moroccan liaison office in Israel. June 30, 2022- Israel's Maccabi Healthcare Services HMO and health organizations in the United Arab Emirates signed several deals to promote joint medical research and technological innovation. The deals focus on advancing personalized medicine, emphasizing innovation and hope to establish a regional medical research ecosystem that will enable further joint research. June 20-23, 2022-Ayelet Shaked became the first Israeli Interior Minister to visit Morocco, where she met with a series of senior officials, including Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita. While in Morocco, Shaked publicly backed Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara and made an agreement to launch a pilot program to attract Moroccan workers to Israel’s construction and nursing sectors. June 20, 2022- Israel’s Defense Minister Benny Gantz unveiled the “Middle East Air Defense Alliance” in a briefing to Israeli lawmakers, confirming that it is building an air defense alliance under U.S. leadership that has already cooperated to foil Iranian air attacks. June 19, 2022-An Egyptian trade delegation of industrialists and businesspeople whose businesses are part of the Qualified Industrial Zone (QIZ) agreement arrived in Israel for a visit. This is the first visit of such a delegation in about a decade. June 15, 2022- Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid announced that Morocco will officially open an embassy in Israel in July. June 14, 2022- The Royal Moroccan Federation of Basketball (FRMBB) and the Israeli Basketball Association (IBBA), signed a partnership agreement that will facilitate collaboration and exchange of delegations and the organization of tournaments and friendly matches. The following day, the Moroccan and Israeli women's basketball teams played a historic friendly match near Rabat, the first time that Arab female players hosted the Israeli national team June 13-16, 2022-The UAE-Israel Tech zone organized a delegation of Israeli start up unicorns that visited the UAE. June 12, 2022-Israel’s Natura Incubator and Flag Holding, a private equity fund based in Abu Dhabi, announced the signing of an agreement to partner in creating Agtech Innovation Centers in Israel and the UAE June 9, 2022- Members of the bi-partisan Abraham Accords Caucus in the House and Senate introduced the Deterring Enemy Forces and Enabling National Defenses (DEFEND) Act, which would require the Pentagon to work with Israel, Egypt, Jordan, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and several other Arab states to integrate air defenses to thwart threats from Iran and combat Iranian aggression threatening peace and security in the Middle East.
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