The First Joint Commercial Deal Between Israel and the UAE

The First Joint Commercial Deal Between Israel and the UAE After announcing the normalization of relations between Israel and the UAE, on Thursday, both countries announced at a press conference in Abu Dhabi the first strategic commercial agreement for research and development related to COVID-19. The official Emirates News Agency (WAM) said that the Emirati Apex National Investment company, has signed a "strategic trade agreement" with the Israeli Terra Group to cooperate in research and development related to COVID-19, including a test device. The deal "is considered the first business to inaugurate trade, economy and effective partnerships between the Emirati and Israeli business sectors, for the benefit of serving humanity by strengthening research and studies on the novel Coronavirus," said Khalifa Youssef Khoury, Chairman of APEX. The two countries said on Thursday in a joint statement that "The United Arab Emirates and Israel will immediately expand and accelerate cooperation regarding the treatment of and the development of a vaccine for the coronavirus," This deal was brokered by the United States, as US President Donald Trump helped broker the deal, under which Israel agreed to suspend its planned annexation of areas of the occupied West Bank. Delegations from Israel and the United Arab Emirates will meet in the coming weeks to sign agreements regarding investment, tourism, direct flights, security, telecommunications and other issues, the joint statement said. "TeraGroup's BioSafety testing is conducted in selected countries around the world, including the Emirates Field Hospital in Abu Dhabi, with plans to expand the testing to cover the entire UAE," WAM said.

In June, the UAE had said two private companies from the United Arab Emirates and two Israeli companies would work together on medical projects, including ones to combat the new coronavirus.

Two state-owned Israeli defense contractors in July announced partnerships with Abu Dhabi-based technology company Group 42 to develop technologies to help fight the new coronavirus.

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