STAND WITHABRAHAM العربية

Benefit Index › Sectors

Trade and investment

What has happened since 2020, with sources. Figures show change over time, not cause.

Draft, under review: this content has not yet been approved for publication.

Overview

Before September 2020 the UAE and Israel had almost no recorded goods trade: Israel reported $0.23m with the UAE in 2019. Since the Accords, the UAE and Israel have signed an investment treaty, a double-taxation treaty and, in 2022, a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), the first free-trade deal between Israel and an Arab state. UAE figures put goods trade at $3.254bn in 2024 and $3.209bn in 2025.

Bahrain and Morocco signed trade, finance and chambers-of-commerce agreements with Israel in 2020–22, but their trade remains far smaller, at roughly $109m each in 2024 on Israeli-reported UN Comtrade data. Some headline investment pledges, including the $10bn UAE fund announced in 2021, were reported not to have got off the ground. Figures show change over time, not cause.

Key numbers

$3.254bnUAE–Israel goods trade2024 [1]
$3.209bnUAE–Israel goods trade2025 [1]
c. $14.53bnCumulative UAE–Israel goods tradeSep 2020–May 2026 [1]
c. $1.243bn (+1% y/y)UAE–Israel goods trade, Jan–May2026 [1]
$2.56bn (+109.7% y/y)UAE–Israel goods trade (Israeli MFA figure)2022 [2]
$2.4967bnUAE–Israel goods trade (Israeli MFA figure)2023 [2]
$0.23mIsrael-reported goods trade with UAE (pre-Accords baseline)2019 [3]
c. $4bnUAE–Israel mutual investment since the Accords (Israeli MFA figure)2023 [2]
more than 96%CEPA: tariff lines with tariffs removed or reduced2022 [4]
more than $10bnCEPA target for annual bilateral trade within five years2022 [4]
$70.7m → $109.3mIsrael-reported goods trade with Morocco2019 → 2024 [5][6]
$108.7mIsrael-reported goods trade with Bahrain2024 [7]
22% (c. $955m paid at closing)Mubadala stake acquired in Israel's Tamar gas field2021 [8]

Timeline

  1. Bahrain and Israel sign MoUs on economic and trade cooperation, finance and chambers of commerce. [9]

  2. UAE and Israel sign an investment promotion and protection agreement, an economic cooperation MoU and a financial-services declaration. [10]

  3. Morocco and Israel commit to cooperation on trade, finance and investment in the Joint Declaration. [11]

  4. The UAE announces a $10bn fund to invest in and alongside Israel in energy, manufacturing, water, space, healthcare and agri-tech. [12]

  5. UAE and Israel sign a double-taxation avoidance agreement (applies in Israel from the 2022 tax year). [13]

  6. Mubadala completes the purchase of Delek Drilling's 22% stake in the Tamar and Dalit gas leases. [8][14]

  7. UAE–Israel investment treaty enters into force. [15]⚑

  8. Israel and Morocco sign their first economic and trade agreements, aiming to lift annual trade to $500m. [16]

  9. UAE and Israel sign the CEPA in Dubai. [4][17]

  10. The UAE–Israel CEPA enters into force. [18]

  11. Bahrain's parliament says economic ties with Israel are suspended; Israel says relations are stable. [19]

  12. Kazakhstan announces it will join the Abraham Accords. [20][21]

Country highlights

UAE

Israel's largest Accords trade partner: $3.209bn in goods trade in 2025, about 80% of it UAE-to-Israel. The CEPA, investment treaty and tax treaty are all in force. [1][18][15]⚑

Bahrain

Eight MoUs signed on 18 Oct 2020, including economic and trade cooperation, finance and chambers of commerce. Israel-reported goods trade was $108.7m in 2024. [9][7]

Morocco

Trade and investment cooperation in the 2020 Joint Declaration; first trade agreements signed Feb 2022 with a $500m target. Israel-reported goods trade rose from $70.7m (2019) to $109.3m (2024). [11][16][5][6]

Sudan

Data in progress. The 6 Jan 2021 signing came with a US–Sudan MoU on clearing Sudan's World Bank arrears; no Sudan–Israel trade data found. [22]

Israel

Party to every agreement above. Israel's MFA reported c. $4bn in UAE–Israel mutual investment by 2023. [2]

Kazakhstan

Data in progress. Kazakhstan announced it would join the Accords in November 2025; it has had relations with Israel since 1992. No sector-specific cooperation sourced yet. [20][21]

Flagship projects

UAE–Israel CEPA

Free-trade agreement removing or reducing tariffs on more than 96% of tariff lines.

Partners
UAE Ministry of Economy; Israel Ministry of Economy and Industry
Date
Signed 31 May 2022; in force 1 Apr 2023
Status
In force

[4][18]

UAE–Israel investment treaty

Bilateral investment promotion and protection agreement.

Partners
UAE and Israeli governments
Date
Signed 20 Oct 2020; in force 27 Dec 2021
Status
In force

[10][15]⚑

UAE–Israel double-taxation treaty

Avoids double taxation of income for companies and individuals.

Partners
UAE and Israeli governments
Date
Signed 31 May 2021
Status
Applies in Israel from 2022 tax year

[13]

Mubadala's Tamar gas stake

Purchase of a 22% interest in Israel's offshore Tamar and Dalit leases.

Partners
Mubadala Petroleum (Abu Dhabi); Delek Drilling (Israel)
Date
Closed 9 Dec 2021
Status
Completed

[8][14]

UAE $10bn investment fund for Israel

Announced fund for energy, manufacturing, water, space, healthcare and agri-tech.

Partners
UAE government and private institutions
Date
Announced 11 Mar 2021
Status
Reported in 2021 as not yet established; no later status found

[12][23]

Morocco–Israel economic and trade agreements

Framework agreements with a target of $500m annual trade.

Partners
Moroccan Ministry of Industry and Trade; Israel Ministry of Economy
Date
21 Feb 2022
Status
Signed; target not reached on Comtrade data

[16][6]

Challenges

  • UAE–Israel trade was broadly flat in 2024–25 ($3.254bn to $3.209bn) and remains well short of the CEPA's $10bn-in-five-years target. [1][4]
  • Trade is lopsided: about 80% of UAE–Israel goods trade in 2025 was UAE-to-Israel, and much of it is precious stones and metals. [1]
  • The $10bn UAE fund announced in March 2021 had not been set up months later, and the US-backed Abraham Fund was frozen, according to Globes. [23]
  • In November 2023 Bahrain's parliament said economic ties with Israel were suspended during the Gaza war; Israel said relations were stable. [19]
  • Morocco–Israel trade ($109.3m in 2024) remains far below the $500m target set in 2022. [6][16]

What to watch

  • Full-year 2026 UAE–Israel trade versus the CEPA's $10bn target (UAE MOFA and Comtrade).
  • Official Bahrain–Israel and Morocco–Israel trade figures from national statistics offices.
  • Any official confirmation of the $10bn fund's status.
  • Kazakhstan's formal signing and any trade or investment agreements that follow.

Sources

  1. UAE MOFA: Israel–UAE relationship
  2. Embassy of Israel in the UAE: bilateral relations
  3. UN Comtrade (reporter Israel, partner UAE, 2019)
  4. WAM, 31 May 2022: UAE–Israel CEPA signed
  5. UN Comtrade (reporter Israel, partner Morocco, 2019)
  6. UN Comtrade (reporter Israel, partner Morocco, 2024)
  7. UN Comtrade (reporter Israel, partner Bahrain, 2024)
  8. Delek Drilling filing, 9 Dec 2021 (Tamar sale closed)
  9. Embassy of Israel in Bahrain: bilateral relations
  10. WAM, 20 Oct 2020
  11. Morocco–Israel Joint Declaration text (Jewish Virtual Library)
  12. WAM, 11 Mar 2021: $10bn fund
  13. Israeli Income Tax Order (Nevo)
  14. Israel Ministry of Energy (PRIME updates), 9 Dec 2021
  15. UNCTAD Investment Policy Hub: Israel–UAE BIT link being re-checked
  16. The National, 22 Feb 2022: Israel–Morocco trade agreements
  17. The National, 31 May 2022
  18. New Zealand MFAT, May 2023
  19. The National, 2 Nov 2023: Bahrain parliament statement
  20. US Embassy in Kazakhstan: A New Era in U.S.–Kazakhstan Relations (Nov 2025)
  21. NPR / AP, 7 Nov 2025
  22. AP via PBS, 6 Jan 2021
  23. Globes, 2021: Abraham Fund frozen; UAE fund not yet established

Sources checked on 27 Oct 2026. Figures show change over time, not cause. ⚑ marks a link being re-checked.