Jerusalem: Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) began talks on a free trade deal on Tuesday, according to a statement from the Israeli Ministry of Economy.

According to sources, the deal will cover problems such as trade in goods and services, regulation, customs, government procurement, e-commerce, and intellectual property protection. The talks began with a video conversation between Israel's Orna Barbivai and the UAE's Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, the two countries' economy ministers.

According to Al Marri, the future deal will greatly improve bilateral trade, remove impediments, and expand economic cooperation. As per Barbivai, the agreement will benefit both countries' industries and businesspeople, as well as provide chances for a wide range of business relationships. In January-July 2021, goods trade between the two countries, which signed a normalisation agreement in September 2020, totaled over USD 500 million.

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