A general view of the Business Bay area, after a curfew was imposed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, March 28, 2020. Photo: Reuters / Satish Kumar / File.

JNS.org – The American Jewish Committee announced that it has opened an office in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, making it the first office in an Arab country and the 13th overseas office to date.

Called “AJC Abu Dhabi: The Sidney Lerner Center for Arab-Jewish Understanding,” it will be led by former ambassador Marc Sievers, said the organization on Monday. Sievers recently retired after serving in the US foreign service for 38 years.

David Harris, CEO of the organization established in 1906,  said the new office “will enable AJC to expand on our decades of bridge-building in the region and create a wider network of stakeholders in the new relationships made possible by the Abraham Accords.”

The office will seek to strengthen ties related to the normalization agreement, as well as relations between Israel and the Gulf states.