Israel–United Arab Emirates normalization agreement

The United Arab Emirates hopes to finalize a trade partnership agreement soon with Turkey in a bid to increase the trade volume, its foreign minister has said during a visit to Istanbul to hold talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu.

A Turkish trade delegation held talks with officials in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on ways of boosting trade cooperation between the two countries, according to the UAE state news agency WAM on Oct. 17.

In a sign of intensified mutual efforts to mend the years-long broken ties, the leaders of Turkey and the United Arab Emirates held a phone conversation to discuss the bilateral ties and regional developments.

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has spoken by phone with the UAE's de facto ruler, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, his office said on Aug. 31.

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"Relations between the countries and regional issues were discussed in the talks," the statement said. It did not specify when the talks took place.

A prominent Saudi prince harshly criticized Israel on Dec. 6 at a Bahrain security summit that was remotely attended by Israel's foreign minister, showing the challenges any further deals between Arab states and Israel face in the absence of an independent Palestinian state.

Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias will brief representatives of the opposition parties next Thursday on the recent defense and foreign policy cooperation agreement and the Joint Declaration of Strategic Partnership signed by Greece and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last week.

The meeting is part of the regular briefing of parliamentary parties on current foreign policy issues.