Economic normalization escalation between UAE and Israel

The UAE has stepped up its economic normalization with Israel following its push for security and military cooperation as well as political normalization between the two sides.

And Israeli media revealed in the last hours that the head of the Dubai Diamond Exchange, Ahmed Bin Sulayem, has been visiting Israel three days ago, to participate in the activities of the “International Diamond Week” held in Tel Aviv.

The semi-official Arabic language channel (I24 News) said that Bin Sulayem arrived in Israel on Monday to participate in the World Diamond Week exhibition, while the UAE side did not comment on what was reported by the Israeli channel.

The channel noted that the exhibition, which started Monday, lasts three days, with the participation of 300 business leaders and experts in the diamond field and heads of diamond exchanges from around the world. She noted that during this day, jewelry was exhibited at the fair, valued at more than a billion dollars.

The Board of Directors of the Dubai Diamond Exchange, affiliated to the Dubai Multi Commodities Center, elected Ahmed Bin Sulayem, the first CEO of the Center, and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Dubai Diamond Exchange in May 2018.

The Israeli channel stated that the relations between Israel and the UAE are improving in the recent period, amid the push for a pace of normalization in all fields.

Meanwhile, a senior CEO at Mubadala Investment Company, which is a sovereign sovereign wealth fund for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, has called on Israeli startups to pump investments into the UAE and the Gulf region.

“We need to welcome all types of investors, even investors who are very active in Israel, and Israeli investors who have recently come to see investment opportunities in the region,” said Ibrahim (Ajami), head of the “Startup Investments Unit” in Mubadala, as quoted by Bloomberg. I see no reason why we should not do that.”

Ajami was speaking at a panel discussion on Venture Capital at the Milken Institute conference in Abu Dhabi.

Among the attendees was Avi Eyal, co-founder and managing partner of Entry Capital, a venture capital company whose investments focus heavily on Israel.

Ajami said that he and Eyal had invested together twice and had been working together “for a few years now”. For his part, Eyal, who was speaking directly to Ajami, offered to create a fund in the Emirates capital.

He said: “I will help you create a fund that specializes in financing the initial stages of projects, and I will make sure to persuade my friends in Europe, Israel and anywhere else to participate to help preserve and make it work.” Then the two men shook hands.

Israeli government delegations have visited the UAE in the past two years, and Israel is scheduled to participate in the Expo Dubai 2020, which Israel considers as evidence of the significant progress in relations with the UAE.

Last week, the UAE government admitted hosting the White House for a meeting between representatives of the UAE and the Israeli entity last December.

CNN quoted an Emirati source as confirming the news that the media leaked, but did not mention the content of the meeting, while Israeli officials refused to comment on the matter.

“Axios” and other international media followed reports on the meeting, and they quoted statements by US officials, who said that the talks were held to coordinate the political position against Iran.