The Abraham Accords have generated a flurry of excitement and optimism on both sides
When Startup Nation Central’s Eugene Kandel was in Dubai in September, he was amazed by the “genuine welcome” he received as chief executive of a non-profit organisation which connects businesses and governments with Israeli start-ups, and by the “genuine desire” among Emirati investors to collaborate.
In the three months since the announcement of the Abraham Accords — or the Israel–United Arab Emirates normalisation agreement — there has been a flurry of interest in and optimism for future economic relations on both sides. The accords subsequently included a bilateral agreement between Israel and Bahrain.
Mr Kandel remarks that the “relative strengths [of the two countries] are highly complementary”, citing specifically the UAE’s governmental agility and Israel’s technological prowess.
For Emirati investors, Israel represents a paragon of innovation that has thrived on technological advancement over the past two decades and which may provide the expertise for the UAE to ramp up its move away from an oil-based economy. For Israeli investors, the UAE is both a sizeable domestic market and a gateway hub, granting potential access to other markets in the region.