Israel’s Agriculture Minister Oded Forer and his Bahraini counterpart, H.E. Wael Bin Nasser Al Mubarak, signed a declaration of agricultural cooperation during the International Summit on Food Technologies from the Sea and the Desert currently taking place in Eilat.
This marks yet another step forward in Israel’s warming relationship with the Arab world since the signing of the Abraham Accords in 2020. Bahrain, along with the UAE, was one of the first two Arab nations to join the Accords. They were later joined by the African nations of Morocco and Sudan.
Since the Abraham Accords were signed, Israel has seen the signing of new trade agreements and cultural exchanges with these four nations on a regular basis. And at that time Israel’s relations with Turkey have also warmed considerably after about a decade of coolness between the two nations.
The conference, an initiative of Israel’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, took place with the participation of ministers of agriculture and senior officials from around the world, with a focus on promoting cooperation and innovation in aquaculture, as part of global efforts to address food security.
During the event, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Oded Forer held working meetings with ministers from around the world who came to Israel in order to create cooperation between their countries.
At Minister Forer’s meeting with his Bahraini counterpart, H.E Wael Bin Nasser Al Mubarak, the two signed a joint declaration for the promotion and expansion of cooperation between the State of Israel and the Kingdom of Bahrain in the fields of agriculture, livestock, and food security. This comes in addition to the mutual sharing of knowledge, technology and diverse products to expand agricultural products and improve the quality of their production.
During the signing ceremony, Minister Forer commented, “Today we took the first step on the path paved by the government’s decision which I led, to turn Eilat into an international research center for food from the sea and the desert. The signing of the agreement with the Minister of Agriculture of Bahrain, at the conference attended by ministers from around the world and senior delegations from Morocco, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, constitutes an important step towards promoting cooperation which will see Israel become a center for research and development of food from the sea and the desert.”
The signing took place on the second day of the conference, which is an initiative of Israel’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in cooperation with the Ministry for the Development of the Periphery, the Negev and the Galilee, and the Ministry of Regional Cooperation, has brought together more than 70 representatives from many countries, including 10 ministers and deputy ministers from around the world. Participants came from the United States, Chile, Ghana, Singapore, Romania, Malta, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, the Netherlands, Australia, Iceland, and more.
The conference comes following the government decision led by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, to launch a multi-year plan to develop the city of Eilat and the Eilot region as a national and international center for the production of food from the sea and the desert at a cost of approximately NIS 170 million.
