UAE, Israel review growing economic ties, agree on promoting tourism cooperation

Abu Dhabi [UAE], October 17 (ANI/WAM): Dr Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi, Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and SMEs, met with the Israeli Tourism Minister Yoel Razvozov at the opening of the Israeli Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai to review advancing economic cooperation and increasing direct flights between the two nations.
The two ministers deliberated the prospects of further growing business opportunities across priority sectors, accelerating non-oil trade exchanges and diversifying bilateral investments in the post-pandemic phase.
"The UAE-Israeli relations are steadily growing and we're determined to further develop them over the coming period," Al Falasi said, noting that Expo 2020 Dubai represents a valuable opportunity for the Israeli businesses to benefit from the opportunities up for grabs during the global fair. He remarked that the non-oil trade exchanges between the two nations amounted to USD 700 million during the first year that followed the signing of the Abraham Accords Peace Agreement.
"The UAE tourist and hotel establishments have secured high occupancy rates over the past period, overtaking 10 of the world's most-visited tourist destinations. An achievement that would not have been made but for the efforts made at the country level to stamp out the challenges triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic," the minister said.
For his part, the Israeli minister said, "On the occasion of the first anniversary of signing the Abraham Accords Peace Agreement, we affirm the impressive success achieved over the past period by the two nations especially at the tourist level.
"Despite the movement restrictions associated with the pandemic, the tourist exchanges between the two nations witnessed significant momentum, with around 250,000 Israeli tourists having visited the UAE over the past period. And we expect cooperation in this field to further grow over the coming period," he said, noting that the tourist sector is a mainstay for the development of economic relations between the two countries. (ANI/WAM)