Israel and Saudi Arabia will deepen economic and business relations even if they don’t formally recognize each other, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview with Bloomberg, Report informs.
The Israeli prime minister told Bloomberg he’s confident he can strike a deal with the Saudis under which the countries will have official diplomatic ties. Without one, the two can still build an “economic corridor” running from the Arabian Peninsula to Europe that encompasses energy, transport and communications technology, he said.
“We’re going to realize that,” he said in a television interview. “My sense is we’ll realize that whether we have formal peace or not.”
Normalization would be a significant coup for Israel. While it’s signed historic diplomatic deals with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan since 2020, Saudi Arabia is the biggest economy in the Middle East, with the government investing trillions of dollars to diversify from oil. In addition, it’s the guardian of Islam’s two holiest sites at Mecca and Medina.
Despite the lack of formal ties, Israeli tech and cyber-security firms have secretly done business with the kingdom for years. In late 2020, Israeli media said Netanyahu had flown to Saudi Arabia to meet the crown prince, a trip that was never officially acknowledged by either side.