The first official visit of a senior United Arab Emirates (UAE) government official to an Israeli academic institution since the two countries announced they would normalize ties as part of the US-brokered Abraham Accords occurred on Wednesday. 

UAE Minister for Food and Water Security Mariam Al-Muhairi met today with representatives of Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI) to promote a research and innovation partnership based on FoodTech and Agtech.  As part of her visit, Al-Muhairi met with HUJI Prof. Mona Khoury-Kassabri, the vice president of Strategy and Diversity;  Prof/ Benny Chefetz, dean of the Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment; various faculty researchers; and Moshe Nadler, CEO of Agricora, an Israeli company aggregates the scope of leading agricultural research concepts, advanced early-stage agritech startups and best-of-breed commercial agritech systems and solutions to develop crops, food products, technologies and solutions. 

Among the topics discussed were plant adaptation to heat and desert-like conditions, intelligent uses of water, and the latest innovations in agriculture.  Both Israel and the UAE are keenly interested in finding the most efficient use of their resources and in securing high-quality seed- and food production in this age of climate change and global warming. 

 “The UAE minister’s visit to Hebrew University is both prescient and historic. Our university is known as a world leader in foodtech and agtech,” commented Chefetz. “We look forward to sharing our know-how with our neighbors in the Middle East so that we may meet the challenges of climate change together and better prepared.”