Israel, UAE initiate academic partnership following Abraham Accords
This agreement will open the door to joint research projects and databases, as well as publications.
By SARAH BEN-NUN'Peace', written in Hebrew, Arabic and English, is painted on the first plane to make an official flight between Israel and the UAE, August 30, 2020(photo credit: EL AL)
In the wake of the Abraham Accords and in continuing the expansion of diplomatic relations, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the precedent for a legally binding contract, between Tel Aviv University (TAU) and the TRENDS Research and Advisory Center (TRENDS) in Abu Dhabi, UAE, was announced on Thursday, October 22, paving the way for a budding relationship.The academic body in TAU signing the MoU is the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies (MDC), a Middle East and African studies think-tank. TRENDS' goal is to find scientific approaches to the world's problems; the agreement will expand and combine the expertise at both institutions in a variety of disciplines, from geopolitics of the Middle East to economics, to eventually effectuate policy in both countries."This academic cooperation envisions creating a different, hopeful future for our region,” said Prof. Uzi Rabi, MDC's director.A region that contains "such a large youth population," added Dr. Mohamed Al-Ali, director of TRENDS, "must have think-tanks and researchers projecting and strategizing future trends and also coming up with robust policy recommendations."This agreement will open the door to joint research projects and databases, as well as publications. All these, noted Rabi, are in the pursuit of "creating person to person partnerships on the ground, and expanding cooperation between our two peoples."
