Middle East Monitor / July 7, 2021
The American administration has frozen the Abraham Fund established following the normalization of ties between the UAE and Israel in September 2020 to promote economic cooperation, Israel’s Globes reported today.
The Abraham Fund was set up to “inject more than $3 billion into the development investment market in the private sector to promote economic cooperation and to encourage prosperity in the Middle East and beyond.” All countries who signed the Abraham Accords were due to contribute to the fund.
Prior to the election of US President Joe Biden, the fund had approved more than ten ventures in the fields of energy, food-tech, and fintech, Globes reported. But Biden’s election brought its operations to a halt and one month after he was sworn into office, the head of the fund resigned. Sources said the new administration does not want to allocate capital from its budget to the fund.
“The White House is interested in the promotion and the success of the Abraham accords and bringing in additional partners for these measures but the focus will be on the diplomatic dimension and the fund itself has been frozen indefinitely,” Globes reported. Adding that the “fund’s activities are not on the agenda.”
In March, UAE Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Zayed announced the establishment of a $10 billion fund in Israel, which would invest in energy, industry, infrastructures, space, health and more.
