Abraham Accords – 3 years on, $3 billion in trade

• UAE-Israel trade deal came into force in April
• Accords signed at White House in 2020

An Israeli politician has described how the Abraham Accords, signed three years ago today, have “opened a floodgate to, hopefully, a new Middle East”.

Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, deputy mayor of Jerusalem, tells AGBI in an exclusive video interview that the agreement signed at the White House on September 15 2020, is transforming Israel’s relations with the UAE and Bahrain.

“In a very short time,” she says, the Emirates have become “one of Israel’s main trading partners”.

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A comprehensive economic partnership agreement between the UAE and Israeli governments came into force in April. Bilateral trade is forecast to top $3 billion this year and $5 billion in 2024, according to Hassan-Nahoum.

The ripple effect is being felt across the region, she adds. Trade with Egypt has tripled and trade with Jordan has doubled in the past three years.

The relationship with Bahrain has not developed quite so quickly but Eitan Na’eh, Israel’s ambassador in Manama, says that trade could increase tenfold in the next couple of years.

Morocco signed its own normalisation agreement with Israel in December 2020 and Hassan-Nahoum says the Israeli government is “hoping that many more countries will join”.

Watch the full video to hear more of Fleur Hassan-Nahoum’s views including about Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords