UAE announces USD 10 Billion investment fund with Israel
Through this fund, the UAE will invest in and alongside Israel across sectors including energy, manufacturing, water, space, healthcare and agri-tech. The investment fund will support development initiatives to promote regional economic cooperation between the two countries.
It builds on the Abraham Accords and aims to bolster economic ties between the region’s two economies, unlocking investments and partnership opportunities to drive socio-economic progress.
The UAE and Israel have also begun formal discussions to establish a quarantine-free travel corridor between the two countries, applicable to passengers who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
According to a report in Globes, Eilat port is one of the PM’s five mega projects, which will receive investment from the new fund as Israel looks to recover from the Covid-19 economic crisis.
In addition to these infrastructure projects, the Abu Dhabi fund will also invest in Israel high-tech in cybersecurity, agri-tech, water desalination and recycling, and improved use of irrigation as well as fintech, space, and energy.
Stephen McKenna, an Abu Dhabi based corporate partner at Clyde & Co, comments that ‘this announcement, just six month on from the Abraham Accords, demonstrates the real commitment between the two counties to investments in many of the sectors set out in the Accords. This can only mean good news for both the UAE and Israel, and is a sign of even more positive developments to come. In the last number of months, we have been working on a number of private investment projects, both inbound and outbound, between the UAE and Israel.’
Israel will be responsible for coordinating the investments through the Israel Innovation Authority, the Israel Export Institute and the Israel National Cyber Directorate. There will also be collaboration between Israel and UAE universities on medicine, medical robotics and remote medicine. Emphasis will be on developing and testing medical technology applications and training doctors and medical teams. Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer has already signed an agreement with a large UAE medical organization and both Hadassah and Ichilov Hospitals are involved.
In the field of energy, the UAE is interested in investing in making solar energy systems more efficient and in solar energy farms with both countries wanting to expand use of non-polluting renewable energy.
