United Arab Emirates and Israel sign first free trade agreement

Israel and the United Arab Emirates signed a free trade agreement on Tuesday, May 31, the first of its kind between the Jewish state and an Arab country.

(Illustrative image) Jack Guez/AFP

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

Israel and the United Arab Emirates signed a free trade agreement on Tuesday, May 31.

The first of its kind between the Jewish state and an Arab country.

Two years ago, the two countries normalized their diplomatic relations.

Advertising

Read more

With our correspondent in Dubai

,

For the ambassador of the United Arab Emirates in

the signing of this agreement is an “ 

”.

The free trade agreement signed between the Gulf monarchy and the Jewish state abolishes customs barriers for " 

 " exchanged between the two parties.

This decision should therefore boost trade between the two countries.

According to the chairman of the Emirati-Israeli Business Council, trade could indeed exceed the 2 billion dollar mark in 2022. And even reach that of 5 billion dollars in five years.

A relationship that has already experienced some upheavals

This agreement therefore represents a new stage in the official relations that unite the United Arab Emirates and Israel.

The two countries had indeed normalized their diplomatic relations in September 2020 under the aegis of the United States.

A relationship that has already experienced some upheavals.

On Monday, the UAE Foreign Ministry in a statement "

".

The day before, " 

" in the Old City of Jerusalem took place against a backdrop of tensions between the police, Israeli and Palestinian demonstrators.

►

Newsletter

Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

google-play-badge_EN

• United Arab Emirates

• Israel

• Diplomacy