Israeli move pavesway for aviation boom

Air agreement with UAE likely to be top of agenda, minister says after historic vote

After Israel’s parliament voted overwhelmingly in favour of formally ratifying the country’s historic accord on diplomatic relations with the UAE yesterday, the next stepwould be to startwork on direct flights, according to a senior Israeli Minister.

“The Parliament must approve the treaty as a first — and important — step,” said Ofir Akunis, Minister for Regional Cooperation.

“Then all the authorities in Israel will be eligible to sign the various individual agreements, including the air agreement. As far as I know, it will be the first one [ to be taken up]…”. ( The accord with Bahrain will be taken up later.)

Already, there is much happening even before a formal ‘ Air Services Agreement’ is signed. A UAE- based firm — NY Koen Group — has confirmed it is in the running to buy an Israeli budget airline Israir.

Earlier, the Al Habtoor Group had confirmed talks with the same airline for launching direct flights.

“All Israelis— the Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze — will benefit from the accord with the UAE … and Bahrain,” the Minister added. “Both governments are working closely to reach an economic agreement that will include a tax deal [ for investments made in either country].

“We have already signed a MoU of banking and finance on September 1, and we did that to open the door to further agreements between institutions in either country. The ministers and officials are negotiating specific details in order to reach the best possible agreements for all sides. We will see results in the next fewdays … and weeks.”

Opening up newroutes

Next month, Akunis is heading a delegation that will meet UAE and Bahraini counterparts. The intention, according to the minister, is to keep governmentto- government dealings progress at a fast clip, which would then set the stage for businesses to follow.

Earlier this week, the first cargo ship from Dubai docked at Haifa Port — apart from the path- breaking nature of the arrival, there are other factors coming into play. Dubai’s DP World, which operates multiple ports in its network, is one of the interested parties bidding to operate the Haifa Port.