India, US, Israel, UAE hold 4-way foreign ministers' dialogue

In a first four-nations virtual meeting of India, Israel, the US and the UAE, the Foreign Minister's discussed possible joint infrastructure projects in transportation, technology, maritime security, and trade.

The meeting was held between the External Affairs Minister of India, Dr S Jaishankar, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel, Yair Lapid, Foreign Minister of UAE, Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, on October 18.

During the meeting, the four ministers discussed possibilities for joint infrastructure projects in transportation, technology, maritime security, economics and trade, and additional collaborative projects, said the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The four nations decided to establish an international forum for economic cooperation, said the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"I think the word we are looking for here is synergy because this is what we're going to try and create starting with this meeting. The synergy that will help us work together on infrastructure, digital infrastructure, transport, maritime security and other things that preoccupy us all," said Lapid.

"The key to success is how quickly can we move from 'government-to-government' to 'business-to-business'?" How quickly can we turn this into a working process that will put boots on the ground, changing infrastructure around the world," he added.

At the end of the conversation, it was decided that each minister will appoint senior-level professionals to a joint working group that will formulate options for cooperation in the areas above.

The intention is to hold an in-person meeting of the ministers in the coming months at Expo 2020 in Dubai, said the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

(ANI)