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US Hails ‘Very Productive’ Working Meetings for Next Negev Forum
Delegates from the six Negev Forum nations gather in Abu Dhabi on Jan. 9, 2023. (UAE Foreign Ministry)

US Hails ‘Very Productive’ Working Meetings for Next Negev Forum

United States diplomats on Tuesday praised the two-day session of working meetings that began Monday in the United Arab Emirates ahead of the next Negev Forum gathering of foreign ministers from Israel and its Arab allies Bahrain, Morocco, Egypt and the UAE.

The Negev Forum, whose inaugural meeting was held last year in the Israeli desert that gives the summit its name, will take place in the spring in Morocco.

We just concluded two days of very productive meetings here in Abu Dhabi of the Negev Forum working groups, with a number of senior representatives from the governments of Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, Morocco, and the United Arab Emirates,” Derek Chollet, Counselor of the Department of State said at the telephonic press briefing, according to a readout issued by the US State Department.

The working groups in Abu Dhabi were focused on six topics that will form the basis of the next meeting of foreign ministers: food and water security; regional security; tourism;  health; education and tolerance; and energy.

“This was a significant meeting of the working groups,” Chollet said, adding that some 150 representatives from the five countries were present, along with American officials. The US participated last year and Secretary of State Antony Blinken will also be present this year. 

“It was the largest meeting between Israel and its regional partners since the Madrid Summit in 1991,” Chollet said, referring to the 1991 international conference in the Spanish capital aimed at cultivating Israeli-Palestinian peace talks that was attended by Israel and the Palestinians along with Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.

“So we believe that this represents another critical step in the advancement of the Negev Forum process,” he said.  

Elizabeth Allen, Senior Official for the Bureau of Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, and Ambassador Cindy McCain, U.S. Permanent Representative to the UN Agencies in Rome were also present on the call, the State Department said.

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