It was reported that the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) called Israeli companies to place a bid for two government contracts, including public-private partnerships. A governmental body that is responsible for foreign and domestic investments in Abu Dhabi, ADIO, initiated a tender for planning, financing, and building three schools in the city of Zayed for 5,360 students and carrying out their maintenance for 20 years. The second tender is for replacing 140,000 streetlights in the emirate with LED ones. The second tender also covers a 12-year agreement with Abu Dhabi’s Department of Municipalities and Transportation.
These two tenders are to be held as part of a $2.7 billion worth of program by Abu Dhabi to improve infrastructure in accordance with public-private partnerships (PPP) agreements. According to the report, an Israeli team was hired by ADIO to seek opportunities in the Israeli business environment to attract the related companies’ attention.
It is seen that the relations between the two countries, particularly in the economy, show an increase after the signing of a US-brokered normalization agreement in September 2020. After this point, the announcements of cooperation agreements have followed each other. Recently, it was announced that the UAE-based technology company Group 42 and Israeli state-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems had established a joint venture to operate in the artificial intelligence and big data technologies fields.
The newly appointed UAE Ambassador to Israel Mohamad Al Khaja hailed the establishment of the joint venture and said that it would contribute to improving UAE-Israel relations and creating opportunities for mutual economic growth.
