Israel, UAE sign free trade agreement
According to Tel Aviv’s foreign ministry, the UAE and Israel signed a free trade agreement on 26 March, which will remove or reduce tariffs on 96 percent of commodities traded between the two regional states.
According to UAE and Israeli reports, the agreement is set to take effect on 1 April, the first of its kind since Abu Dhabi signed the Abraham Accords in 2020 alongside Bahrain. The customs deal was signed between Israel’s Foreign Minister, Eli Cohen, and the UAE ambassador to Israel, Mohamed al-Khaja, in Jerusalem, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in attendance.
Both nations signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement in May 2022, yet the free trade agreement could not be implemented until Tel Aviv, and Abu Dhabi signed a customs deal.
Netanyahu praised the deal calling it “historic,” further clarifying that the agreement would “reduce customs duties, lower the cost-of-living and inject energy into business between Israel and the UAE.”
A UAE diplomat says the deal “puts the meat on the bones” when speaking to The Times of Israel.
The trade agreement was signed in the wake of nationwide protests in Israel over its government’s push for judicial reforms.
This also comes a few days after the UAE Foreign Ministry ordered al-Khaja to avoid meeting with any Israeli government officials or attending events where Israeli ministers and politicians will be present in response to inflammatory comments made by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who this week said that “there is no such thing as a Palestinian people.”
“Hate speech and violence should be confronted, and values of tolerance and human coexistence should be promoted to reduce escalation and instability in the region,” the UAE foreign ministry said in a statement.
The Israeli finance minister made these comments while standing on a podium featuring a map that included Jordan, parts of Syria and Saudi Arabia, and the occupied Palestinian territories as part of Israel.
Smotrich – who is also responsible for the civil administration in the occupied West Bank – also came under fire earlier this month after he called for the Palestinian village of Huwara to be “wiped out.”
