Saudi companies planning investment in Israel through Bahrain

ISLAMABAD: The Israeli media has claimed on Sunday that Saudi Arabian companies are planning to invest in Israel through Bahrain, a source that has the knowledge about the matter provided the information. According to Jerusalem Post sources: “It’s very interesting and a sign of how sentiment about Israel is changing” in Saudi Arabia.

Several Saudi companies are considering business transactions, said the source, who was in Bahrain last week. The investors are mostly interested in Israeli hi-tech. Without identifying the source, influential Israeli media has reported that the representatives for companies involved, declined to speak on the record about the matter.

According to the Israeli newspaper, the Bahrain’s economy is heavily dependent on Saudi Arabia, making it an easy conduit for Saudi businesspeople to connect to Israel. Bahrain and Israel announced in September this year to establish diplomatic relations within the framework of the Abraham Accord.

The UAE, Sudan and Morocco took similar steps subsequently in recent months. Since the announcement, Manama and Jerusalem have exchanged official delegations, and Bahrain’s foreign minister and minister of industry, commerce and tourism visited Israel. The representatives of the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce and its Bahraini counterpart signed a memorandum of understanding for business cooperation in the following month. No official version was available from either side as Saudi Arabian and Bahrain embassy in Islamabad are not willing to entertain any query in this regard, while Israel is not recognised by Pakistan and for the reason Israel has no representative in Islamabad.