Abu Dhabi, (Business News Report)| The Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADG) began pumping its investments in Israel. This is the first work of Emirati funds after the normalization of relations.
Abu Dhabi Fund for Development is scheduled to pump $200 million annually over the next ten years, according to the Israeli newspaper Globes.
The newspaper said that the most important results of Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit to the United Arab Emirates were not related to diplomacy or defense, but the huge sums that Abu Dhabi plans to invest in Israel.
Informed sources also disclosed to Globes that Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed decided to unfreeze $10 billion of investments in Israeli companies that had been promised by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Abu Dhabi announced in March the creation of a $10 billion fund aimed at investing in strategic sectors in Israel.
The two countries also launched talks to reach a free trade agreement between them in November. UAE Minister of Economy Abdullah bin Touq revealed that his country seeks to increase economic relations with Israel to more than one trillion dollars during the next decade.
The emirate’s major sovereign funds, including the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Mubadala, will split these investments among themselves.
But the first fund to enter the Israeli market is the Abu Dhabi Development Corporation, which is affiliated with the Holding Group (ADQ), which plans to invest $200 million in 2022 in Israeli companies, in addition to a similar amount annually over 10 years.
Globes quoted a prominent Emirati source as saying that Abu Dhabi is impatiently waiting for the stability of the Israeli political scene before renewing the process of fulfilling bin Zayed’s promise.
Therefore, Herzog’s visit, meant he was the right person at the right time to formally begin the investment process.
The head of the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, Faris Al Mazrouei, met with a number of members of the small Israeli delegation that accompanied Herzog to the UAE capital. There, they discussed investment mechanisms, and how the Association of Manufacturers in Israel and the Israel Export Institute can help direct Emirati investments.
Avi Hassoun, CEO of Start-Up National Central, which specializes in matching Israeli startups with investors, and who was among the delegation to Abu Dhabi, believes that the UAE’s cancellation of the 10 billion freezing dollars to invest in Israel are of great importance to both countries.
