“This is a great opportunity to secure ties and relationships with our cousins in Israel,” says Emirati executive

"Israeli companies are pioneers in the fields of biotechnology, innovation, and artificial intelligence - so for us, this is a great opportunity to secure ties and relationships with our cousins ​​- with Israeli companies and Israeli entrepreneurs and to develop larger markets for our economy," said Farid Al Zarooni, chairman of AngelWorld BioTech, in a conversation with CTech’s Ron Friedman, as part of Calcalist and Bank Leumi’s "Economic Opportunities in the UAE" online conference.

"The company we founded initially specialized in general trade and specifically in hard and soft commodities. Over time, we have built strong ties with markets around the world and especially with governments," says Al Zarooni in a video interview from Dubai.

He added that the network of relationships the company has built led it to enter the biotechnology and artificial intelligence sectors, fields which he says, "are themselves becoming consumer products in high demand." AngelWorld BioTech develops and manufactures IVD medical devices to test for a variety of diseases, including a recently launched Covid-19 antibody test.

"We took advantage of the pandemic and economic collapse," Al Zarooni said of developing the coronavirus detection device. "We have developed a device supported by artificial intelligence applications that we believe provides a better, faster solution, and we are currently marketing it to South America, North Africa, Europe, Russia, and parts of Asia." He noted that the areas of research that his company currently deals with include biotechnology, biosimilar, and artificial intelligence, which includes interfaces with cyber and data analysis.

Referring to the business ties between his country and Israel before the signing of the peace agreements, Al Zarooni noted that in the past he had already had indirect business relations with Israeli companies and that he was happy that this could now be done openly and directly, with the blessing of the UAE administration. He said that Israelis who aspire to do business in the country should behave in accordance with the rules taught in introductory business courses - including conducting research on the culture and regulation of the field and building trust between the parties. "I have seen a lot of projects built on trust in the past and today they are worth billions," he said.