Emirati government delegation visits Israel

ABU DHABI, Oct. 20 (YPA) – An official Emirati delegation headed to Israel on Tuesday, for the first visit of its kind.

This comes at a time the two countries are looking for expanded cooperation after the normalization of relations last month under an agreement brokered by the United States.

An Etihad Airways plane carrying Emirati government officials, accompanied by American personalities, took off from Abu Dhabi, on its way to Ben-Gurion Airport, according to the ‘Flightradar 24’ website.

Israeli officials said that “the visit will be limited to the airport due to fears of the Coronavirus.”

Director of Strategic Communications at the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hind Al-Otaiba, said in a tweet on Twitter that the Minister of Economy Abdullah bin Touq Al-Marri and Minister of State for Financial Affairs Obaid Humaid Al-Tayer headed the UAE delegation.

The UAE officials were accompanied on the trip by US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin, and US envoy to the Middle East, Ari Berkowitz, after they accompanied an Israeli delegation that visited Bahrain last Sunday, to attend the signing ceremony for establishing official relations.

Israeli officials said that the two sides are expected to sign a bilateral agreement to waive visas, which will be the first of its kind that Israel concludes with an Arab country.

YPA