ABU DHABI: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the UAE’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan have spoken by phone to build on their countries’ normalisation accord, Sheikh Mohammed said in a tweet Monday.
In the call initiated by Netanyahu, the two leaders agreed the deal signed at the White House on Sept 15 “opens the way to a new era of cooperation”, he wrote.
They also discussed joint efforts to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
Netanyahu, for his part, told the Israeli cabinet that he had spoken at the weekend with his “friend” Sheikh Mohammed, who is crown prince of Abu Dhabi and effectively, its ruler.
“I invited him to visit Israel, he invited me to visit Abu Dhabi, but before that, we’ll see a delegation from the UAE, and another delegation of ours will go there,” the prime minister said.
The normalisation deals signed the same day with both the United Arab Emirates and fellow Gulf state Bahrain “reflect the dramatic change in Israel’s regional standing”, he said.
Netanyahu said he told the prince the Israel-UAE deal would be ratified this week by his government and then in parliament.
Netanyahu also hailed the economic boon the deal would offer Israelis, as the first cargo ship from the UAE docked at Israel’s port of Haifa.
The ship that arrived Monday was carrying metal, electronics and other goods with further cargo ships expected to arrive each week, a port spokesman told AFP.
Haifa Port chairman Eshel Armony called the ship’s arrival “a moving and historic event”.
“It’s fitting that the first cargo ship from the UAE arrives just as the government is approving the historic peace deal,” he said.
