Flags of United Arab Emirates and Israel flutter during Israel’s National Day ceremony at Expo 2020 Dubai, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, January 31, 2022. REUTERS/Christopher Pike

JNS.org – The Dubai International Chamber of Commerce (Dubai International Chamber) plans to open an office in Tel Aviv, Israel’s Economy and Industry Ministry announced on Wednesday.

The office will help Israeli companies leverage their operations in the United Arab Emirates to expand their reach in markets across the Arabian Gulf, Africa and Asia, the ministry said in a statement.

“Last week, on behalf of the Government of Israel, I signed a free-trade agreement and a comprehensive economic partnership between Israel and the United Arab Emirates,” said Israeli Economy and Industry Minister Orna Barbivai. “In a meeting I held with the President and CEO of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce, Hamad Buamim, he announced our mutual goals to bring about rapid promotion of economic cooperation and to create new business opportunities.”

The chamber’s move, Barbivai continued, “reflects the strong commitment that the two countries attach to strengthening economic ties and creating new business opportunities.”

Buamim said in a statement that Israel was a “strategically important” market for Dubai, and was expected to become one of Dubai’s top 10 trading partners “within a few years.”

“Expanding our presence in Israel will allow us to achieve the goals of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement signed by the United Arab Emirates and Israel, build new bridges between the two business communities, and increase non-oil trade to $10 billion a year over the next five years,” said Buamim.

He emphasized the importance of promoting Dubai as a global gateway to Israeli companies and attracting foreign investment in key sectors of mutual interest, such as information technology, artificial intelligence, agricultural and food technologies and space sciences, among others.

The agreement, the chamber president said, will help achieve the goals set out in the Dubai Foreign Trade Plan announced by Sheikh Muhammad bin Rashid al-Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai, including increasing the country’s oil trade to over half a trillion dollars within five years.

Bilateral trade between the UAE and Israel has increased by over $1 billion since the September 2020 signing of the Abraham Accords, reaching $885 million in 2021 alone.