Abu Dhabi
Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) signed their firstever agreement, in the areas of banking and finance, on Tuesday.
The UAE central bank, the Israeli Finance Ministry and Israeli financial regulators reached an agreement by which they will form a joint committee on finance and investments and will continue to discuss promoting financial services cooperation. The countries will remove obstacles to investments between them and promote joint investments in the capital market. They will also discuss cooperation in banking services and payment regulation, and how to meet international standards for investments. Prime Minister Netanyahu praised the agreement, saying it will “help us promote mutual investments and broad cooperation.” “We will soon announce additional agreements in aviation, tourism, trade and more,” he added. Separately, the state-run Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) and Invest in Israel – part of the Economy Ministry – said in a joint statement that they agreed to set out a plan to establish formal cooperation.—Agencies