In a first four-nations virtual meeting on Monday of India, Israel, the US and the UAE, the Foreign Minister's discussed possible joint infrastructure projects in the fields of transportation, technology, maritime security, and trade.
The meeting was held between External Affairs Minister, 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.
During the meeting, the four ministers held a discussion on possibilities for joint infrastructure projects in the fields of transportation, technology, maritime security, and economics and trade, as well as for additional joint projects, said the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Israeli, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lapid initiated the meeting during his visit to Washington and said at the start of the meeting, "Around this virtual table - there is a unique set of capabilities, knowledge, and experience that can be used to create the network that we all want to see created."
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," added Lapid.
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 aforementioned areas.
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.
The delegations from India, the US, the UAE, and Israel discussed a range of issues including climate change, energy cooperation maritime security, and expanding economic and political cooperation in the respective regions.
"It was an opportunity for ministers to discuss a range of topics including expanding economic and political cooperation in the respective regions, discuss climate change, energy cooperation maritime security, a whole range of issues," US Department of State Spokesperson Ned Price said during a press briefing.
( With inputs from ANI )
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