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Bipartisan group of US senators visiting all 4 Abraham Accords countries
January 13, 2023
Lawmakers take off for Israel, UAE, Bahrain and Morocco for talks with local officials aimed at strengthening agreements, bringing in more signatories
A bipartisan group of US senators on Thursday took off on a Congressional delegation to all four Abraham Accords countries for talks with government officials on how to further integrate Israel into the region.
The Congressional delegation to Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco was being led by senators Jacky Rosen, a Democrat from Nevada, and James Lankford, an Oklahoma Republican. They are joined by Democrats Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Michael Bennet of Colorado and Mark Kelly of Arizona, and Republicans Dan Sullivan of Alaska and Ted Budd of North Carolina.
“The Accords are already contributing to all four countries’ economies and helping them work together to combat Iranian aggression. My colleagues and I look forward to meeting with senior government officials, business leaders, and civil society organizations to discuss how we can strengthen the relationships fostered by the Accords and expand them to new countries,” Rosen said in a statement.
The Abraham Accords normalized ties between Israel and the Arab states in 2020, in a historic breakthrough for Israel in the region.
Rosen and Lankford co-chair the Senate’s Abraham Accords Congressional Caucus. The group was established last year, along with a parallel panel in the House of Representatives, to expand the legislative branch’s role in promoting the accords.
The congressional delegation began days after the latest gathering of the Negev Forum, an expanded group of Abraham Accords countries that also includes the US and Egypt. The UAE hosted the first meetings of six working groups established to promote joint projects in the fields of regional security, education and tolerance, water and food security, tourism, and energy.