The economic and commercial ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain following the Abraham Accords, which brought a rapid growth in trade (by five times and more) to nearly a billion dollars in 2021, has also led to the begininng of economic and business ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia, or to be more exact, between businesspeople and companies from the two countries.
Normalization of ties with Saudi Arabia could still take some time, but economic normalization seems to be starting to happen.
According to Israeli and Saudi sources, this is seen in large deals recently signed, in the visits of Israeli businesspeople with Israeli passports with special visas to Saudi Arabia, and in advanced contacts concerning investments of Saudi businesspeople and Saudi investment funds in Israel.
These businesspeople are mainly representatives and directors of Israeli technology companies who are invited by the Saudis.
The visits of the businesspeople became possible following the cancellation of the blanket ban that existed in Saudi Arabia, and the new ease of obtaining a special visa.
As abovementioned, dozens of businesspeople have used this opportunity and visited Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s economic hub, as well as other places, such as the city of the future Neom, which is being built close to the shores of the Red Sea.
This city was visited by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who met there with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in November 2020, in a meeting also attended by then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
These visits have yielded a few deals, among them two large deals at the scope of millions of dollars in the field of desert agriculture. Y.P. is an Israeli businessman who visited Riyadh. Speaking with Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, he said that these projects involve Israeli hydro-technology, which is necessary for the Saudi desert climate, along with other Israeli agri-tech technologies. The Saudi leadership, he says, hopes to significantly expand the use of these Israeli technologies as part of its effort to achieve food security and independence.
Another sign of these strengthening ties is a direct flight from Tel Aviv to Riyadh that took off May 31 with Jewish American businesspeople aboard the private plane.
Dr. Nirit Ofir, the CEO of the Israel-GCC Chamber of Commerce, tells Al-Monitor that the interesting point is that it is the private sector on both sides that is rapidly pulling relations forward. She says that businesspeople are not limited by diplomatic issues and that when the personal encounter and interests combine, they move forward. She emphasizes that in contrast to the United Arab Emirates, these deals are between businesspeople and the private commercial sector and not between the nations.