In May and June, United Arab Emirates, Etihad Airlines landed its first two direct flights from Abu Dhabi to Israel, carrying shipments of medical supplies for Palestinians to confront the coronavirus pandemic. And in June, UAE Foreign Minister Anwar Gargash called for greater cooperation with Israel.
In July, corporations in Israel and the United Arab Emirates signed an agreement to join forces to seek and expand technologies in combating the coronavirus pandemic, while key representatives from Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have been in normal contact with Israeli Sheba Medical Center from the beginning. the current fitness crisis, said a representative of the Israeli hospital. Israel would also participate later this year at Expo 2020, and the world’s fair will be held in Dubai. The occasion was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“The official hip between Israel and the United Arab Emirates is new, but closeness has taken positions a long time ago,” said Gil Feiler, principal investigator at the Sadat Begin Center for Strategic Studies at the Israeli University of Bar-Ilan, which specializes in the Arab world. markets and economies, and economic cooperation in the Middle East.
“The outlook is huge,” he said in a telephone interview, and exchanges between the parties can simply “double” over the next two or three years.
Right now, Feiler estimates, the industry between Israel and the Gulf countries is about $720 million a year. This basically consists of the export of Israeli products in the areas of defense and security, cutting-edge technology, agriculture, consulting services or wisdom movement, and joint ventures in the prescription drug and health box, he said. Learn about the U.S. Emirates’ investments in 25 new Israeli companies, he said, refusing to expand further.
Israel’s Ministry of Economy has estimated that the normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates can mean a large amount of millions of dollars a year for Israel in industry and investment. According to figures compiled through the ministry, based on scenarios, exports to the United Arab Emirates, which lately stood at around $300,000 in line with the year, can increase up to $300 million to $500 million depending on the year.
The era of “rich Arab countries” is over, Feiler said, as oil costs have fallen and other energy resources such as shale oil, herbal fuel and green energy take root. “They want our generation to diversify their market.”
The United Arab Emirates has a population of about 10 million, of which 15 are citizens and the rest foreign workers. Two-thirds of its population lives in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
The source of per capita income in the UAE is the eleventh highest in the world, with $70,000, and the country has embarked in recent years on an economic diversification program that has led it to expand sectors such as tourism, air transport, trade and monetary services. , production and energy of choice. The country’s oil industry at the end of 2017 accounted for about 30% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), which remains its largest economic sector, but below 79% in 1980, according to the UAE website.
In 2017, the UAE introduced the UAE’s strategy for the fourth trade revolution, establishing a strategy for a global generation center through innovation stimulation. Its Blockchain 2021 strategy aims to leverage blockchain generation to move 50% of government transactions to the blockchain platform until 2021.
The United Arab Emirates has the largest sovereign wealth fund in the Middle East and the fifth largest in the world, with a total of $792 billion. According to the 2018 IMD Global Competitiveness Ranking, the United Arab Emirates ranked seventh among the 62 countries examined globally.
The United Arab Emirates has highly trained “talented leaders,” many of whom have a PhD from American universities, which a mix of East and West would gain advantages for all parties, Bar-Ilan said. They have close ties to U.S. President Donald Trump, and therefore “a non-unusual floor with Netanyahu,” he added, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Economic ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates will in fact strengthen, Feiler said, even if the real scope is limited. “There will be no boom,” he says. There is no genuine “empty or empty” that Israel can fill, because even without Israel, the United Arab Emirates can have everything it wants to move forward.
What Israel and the United Arab Emirates can do is expand things in combination, he said, and also fight in combination against Iran.
“We’re in the beginning, ” he said.
Meanwhile, the announcement of normalization has instilled enthusiasm in the business network in both Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
“It’s created so much enthusiasm, my email is exploding,” Jon Medved, executive director of the Jerusalem-based venture capital fund OurCrowd, said in a phone interview. “I don’t know how many other people managed to get out of there … to meet. We’ve already had a lot of interactions, but everything will accelerate.”
Applications earned through Medved in the 24 hours prior to his interview with the Times of Israel and since the announcement of standardization involved the status quo of joint seminars, generation centers, investment partner studies, cybergeneration resources and joint investments. “It’s pretty wild, ” he said.
On Monday, President Reuven Rivlin invited the Crown Prince of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to Israel.
A prominent U.S. businessman, Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor said he was already in talks with Israeli airline Israel on the construction of direct flights between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, and praised the recently announced standardization agreement between the two countries as a “great” opportunity. for any of the nations.
Israeli pop star Omer Adam has reportedly been in talks to perform in the United Arab Emirates, while on Sunday, telephone service between the United Arab Emirates and Israel began to work, with bloodhounds in Jerusalem and Dubai to call themselves from landlines and mobile phones. registered in Israel. country code -972.
Meanwhile, Dorian Barak, an investor and fund manager who has been active in the United Arab Emirates over the years, entering with his U.S. passport, told the Times of Israel that he had created the Gulf Israel Business Council, which aims to facilitate the industry. Relations. focusing on spaces with the utmost prospects such as health, agriculture and cutting-edge technology.
The online page will be online in the coming weeks, said Barak, who hopes to open one soon in Dubai.
OurCrowd’s Medved, who is a U.S. and Israeli citizen, in Abu Dhabi in December 2019, was invited to speak at an investment convention of choice called SALT, sponsored through the UAE government. “I was a little surprised” through the invitation, Medved said, noting that he had made it clear to them that he too was Israeli. When he asked what they were looking for after he communicated to them, he replied, “Israel.”
“I went there and was impressed by the number of positive people” and interested in participating in cooperation with OurCrowd, he said. OurCrowd has already co-invested with UAE investors in some transactions, and the venture capital company is preparing to present some of the new companies in its portfolio to “several partners,” Medved said.
“A lot of those things were going under the radar,” he said. But the news of the normalization of “it changes everything.”
“You had to be a little brave and a little brave James Bondie, and pass out on a ledge,” to go ahead and do business with those countries,” Medved said. But now other people don’t want to be left behind. They will also feel the desire to participate in the game and do business.
“On both sides, the maximum number of Israelis and citizens of the United Arab Emirates were not concerned about this,” he said. “There were many, but it is still a very small minority of our business communities. And I think now the opportunity is for everyone to participate, and grow like a snowball, attracting other Gulf players, as well as Saudi Arabia and even beyond. .
The logic of cooperating in combination “is great,” Medved said. “They want innovation, we want markets; they have investment capabilities, we have great investment opportunities. They are interested in fitness care, green energy, cybersecurity, drones, transportation, smart cities, genuine real estate technologies: we have it all.
The message from the two governments of Israel and the United Arab Emirates is “forward,” Medved said. “Our task as Americans – other entrepreneurs – is to fill it with glorious content. The more deals, the more smart deals there are, the more corporations build together, the more tasks and prices we create, the smarter it will be.
Cooperation will give Israeli-generation corporations the opportunity to access new markets and verify their outdoor technologies in New York, Tokyo or London, Medved said.
“What about running with Dubai and Abu Dhabi in your garden? It saves you a lot of time and they’re very complex cities.”
Over time, Medved expects Emirati investors to be “another pillar” of Israel’s already diverse investor base, along with U.S., Chinese, Latin American and Asian investors in the local market.
The way forward won’t necessarily be easy, he said. “There will be a setback along the way and the Israelis will make mistakes,” he said. “It may not be a linear process, but I have high hopes.”
The announcement is a blow to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which aims to isolate Israel internationally, Medved said. “It’s a big eye blow, ” said BDS. “How do they ask for a boycott when those guys are making peace with you?”
Alan Feld, Canadian-Israeli administering spouse of Vintage Investment Partners, Israel’s largest venture capital fund, visited Dubai for the first time this year with nine Israelis to speak at a conference.
“I had a visit,” he said. “I did not hide the fact that I lived in Israel; everyone knew he lived in Israel. I spoke at the convention and they knew he was Israeli.
Officials and entrepreneurs he met expressed interest in making an investment in Israel or making a joint investment abroad, he said, and were very interested in the Israeli generation in general.
They were just waiting for a formalization to move forward, he said, with the flights.
“I’m pretty sure there will be a lot of smart things between Israel and the United Arab Emirates,” he said. “Contrary to what we have noticed with Jordan and Egypt, I believe it will be a warm peace,” promoted not only through government, but also through other people and businesses.
“We have generation tailored to your direct internal desires and monetary services,” he said. And if there was cooperation before, it’s accumulating “exponentially.”
On Friday afternoon, following Thursday’s announcement of the normalization of relations, Feld said he had won a text message from a senior Dubai economic official related to organizing a Zoom meeting. When Feld wanted him to “have a smart weekend” at the end of the message session, an excited Feld said the top Dubai official had replied: “You too, brother.