On September 17, 2020, simply two days after the signing of the Abraham Accords in Washington and the institution of diplomatic relations between Israel and the UAE, the Israel Diamond Alternate (IDE) and Dubai Diamond Alternate (DDE) signed a cooperation settlement.
The doc dedicated the IDE and DDE to determine workplaces within the different’s headquarters and promote bilateral commerce and joint initiatives.
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A dealer inspects a diamond throughout a present on the buying and selling flooring of Israel’s Diamond Alternate (IDE) in Ramat Gan close to Tel Aviv,
(Picture: Reuters)
The pace with which the settlement was reached definitely indicated the passion with which the world’s two main diamond exchanges entered into a brand new period of partnership. Nevertheless it additionally mirrored one other, much less publicized reality: That lengthy earlier than official ties between Israel and the UAE have been established, enterprise figures from each nations have been linked by the commerce in treasured stones. One would possibly even say that the street to the open financial cooperation between Israel and the Emirates created by the Abraham Accords, was paved by diamonds.
For Israel, the diamond trade is a long-established key sector of its economic system whose beginnings pre-date the institution of the state. The commerce in treasured stones had for hundreds of years attracted the Jewish retailers of a diaspora scattered throughout the globe and in want of a universally-accepted, easily-transported foreign money. Within the Thirties, Jewish sellers from Germany immigrated to then pre-state Israel, bringing their experience in sprucing and buying and selling treasured stones. The IDE was established within the Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Gan within the Sixties and now boasts some 3,100 members, whereas minimize and polished diamonds account for some 23 p.c of Israeli exports.
The UAE is a more recent energy on the planet diamond market, however has made exceptional advances during the last twenty years. Dubai’s place as a pre-eminent regional buying and selling hub and magnet for luxurious world tourism, and its proximity to Asian facilities of treasured gem manufacturing, have made it a pure middle for the trade. The DDE, which was established in 2002 below the umbrella of the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), has over 1,100 licensed corporations. It now handles some $25 billion in whole commerce, double that of Israel’s IDE.
Publish the Abraham Accords, the hyperlinks between the Israel and UAE diamond industries have shortly superior. The DMCC opened a consultant workplace inside Ramat Gan’s IDE in late 2020 – and the IDE did the identical in Dubai’s DMCC this previous February.
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A workers member at a jewellery retailer locations a diamond within the window show at Dubai’s Gold and Diamond Park
(Picture: Reuters)
Israel exported $188 million in tough diamonds to the UAE in 2021, and that quantity is for certain to develop after each nations signed a free commerce deal in June, eliminating customs duties on 95 p.c of merchandise, together with slicing the tariffs on diamonds and treasured gems from 5 p.c to zero.
And it could be that the position the diamond commerce performed in pre-figuring the ties between Israel and the UAE, is perhaps replicated elsewhere. Though Israel and Qatar nonetheless don’t have official diplomatic relations, the 2 have reportedly reached an settlement on permitting Israeli diamond merchants to do enterprise in a brand new free commerce zone for treasured stones and gold in Doha, arrange alongside the mannequin of Dubai’s DMCC.
So the glittering path paved by diamonds to the Abraham Accords, would possibly but find yourself extending even additional within the Gulf.
