La región MENA conmemora los Acuerdos de Abraham con la Cumbre de Inversionistas OurCrowd
The Abraham Accords, also known as "the agreements of the century", not only brought peace and stability to the region, but have also meant the biggest economic boost in the history of the member countries. Since they were signed in 2020, they normalised relations between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Bahrain and Morocco. In addition to being a historic geopolitical and strategic shift, the agreement opened up new trade corridors between some of the world's most successful economies. A case in point is the partnership between the UAE and Israel, which in 2021 saw joint trade growth reach a record increase of nearly $1.1 billion.
At the OurCrowd Global Investor Summit in Jerusalem on 15 February 2023, companies from the Middle East and North Africa showcased the region's economic and investment performance over the past three years. Israel's President Isaac Herzog expressed "particular thanks to the countries of the Abraham Accord". The Summit was the venue where thousands of potential investors from more than 80 countries came to learn more about how and where to invest in the Arab world. Abdulla Abdul Aziz al-Shamsi, director general of the Abu Dhabi Investment Office, commented that "we have really started to see the fruits of this work".
What is OurCrowd and why is this summit so important. OurCrowd is the global online venture investment platform that enables institutions and accredited individual investors to invest and participate in early stage emerging technology companies. Founded by Jon Medved in 2013 with a vision to democratise world-class venture capital investment, it has rapidly grown to become the world's leading platform with over $2.1 billion in capital. However, if there is one work that stands out above the rest, it is value creation for companies, helping them in the recruitment of highly qualified personnel.
To the private sector economy, before the conference, Jon Medved described the Abraham Accords as a political umbrella for the expansion of investment and business, to promote interfaith and interrelatedness. The summit was a hopeful event for the Israeli government, which is not at its best. The country's president noted: "Israelis taking an active role in the debate from all sides. All I can say about myself is that I am doing everything I can to steer this debate towards a constructive dialogue that will lead to an agreed outcome that will strengthen, promote and protect Israeli democracy".
The region's unease with Israel's new government is notorious. In January, the UAE called a meeting of the UN Security Council following a visit to a mosque in Jerusalem by Security Minister Ben-Givir, an act that was labelled by the region as destabilising and offensive to the peace achieved in the Arab world. Despite this, the private economy and trade agreements between the two states have not been affected.
As far as Morocco is concerned, the Moroccan startup ecosystem has developed in recent years, with many startups supported by incubators, venture capital funds and supportive governmental organisations, all working to create rapid and significant traction for this important and valuable business sector. Furthermore, both OurCrowd's CEO and its president, Dr Sabah al-Binali, have highlighted the high growth of Morocco's tech ecosystem, as well as the overall impact that the Abraham Accords created in the region. So much so that Jon Medved himself praised the Alawi country's efforts, adding that "the fruitfulness of Moroccan companies in the economy both in the region and globally is a source of pride". He was joined by OurCrowd's Director of Business Development, Youssef Seffar, who commented on Rabat's great potential as Africa's gateway to Europe, alluding that the limit of the region's economic growth is the "sky's the limit".