Israel and Bahrain sign agriculture cooperation agreement

Israel and Bahrain have signed an agriculture cooperation agreement, it was announced yesterday. The deal was signed on Wednesday by Oded Forer, Israel’s Agriculture Minister, and his Bahraini counterpart Wael Bin Nasser Al Mubarak during the International Summit on Food Technologies from the Sea and the Desert.

The agreement covers the promotion and expansion of cooperation in agriculture, livestock and food security. It also includes the mutual sharing of skills and technology to develop agricultural products and improve their production quality.

“Today we took the first step on the path paved by the government’s decision to turn Eilat into an international research centre for food from the sea and the desert,” explained Oded. “The signing of the agreement with Bahrain, at a conference attended by ministers from around the world and senior delegations from Morocco, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, is an important step towards promoting cooperation which will see Israel become a centre for research and development of such food.”

According to data from the Foreign Trade Department of the Israeli Ministry of Economy and Industry, since the signing of the agreement to normalise relations with Bahrain two years ago, trade between the two states has grown steadily. It was valued at around $7.5 million in 2021.

Bahrain is among the four Arab countries to have signed US-sponsored agreements to normalise relations with Israel since 2020. The others are the United Arab Emirates, Sudan and Morocco.

READ: Israel, Bahrain ink framework agreement for cooperation