Minister of Foreign Affairs Yair Lapid and UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade H.E Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi today (Wednesday, 30 June 2021), inaugurated the Consulate General of Israel in Dubai.

Following are excerpts from FM Lapid’s remarks at the ceremony:

“Yesterday we opened the embassy in Abu Dhabi, today we are opening the consulate in Dubai.

“We are starting to get used to making history.

“This consulate isn't symbolic.

“It's a place of life.

“Of tourism.

“Of business.

“Of dialogue between two talented peoples who can and who want to contribute to one another.

“The peace we are celebrating today isn't between governments and leaders but between people and nations.

“It isn't peace for me and my colleagues standing here but for our children.

“When we look at our relations, allow me to quote the great founding father of the United Arab Emirates: Sheikh Zaid bin Sultan Al Nahyan:

“‘We are like those who had climbed a mountain and reached the top. When we looked down we still wanted to go higher to realise our goals.

“‘Despite all the achievements, we still have an ambition for more. That is my way of looking at things.’

“And that is also our way of looking at things.

“And that is why we are standing here today.

“Because we don't accept reality, we create reality.

“Our two nations created the incredible.

“Here in Dubai, out of the desert, sprang forth a smart, educated nation with incredible economic and technological abilities.

“In Israel, people who returned to their land after thousands of years, created the start-up nation. Brought to the world drip irrigation and cherry tomatoes, Waze and the USB drive, translation software and the x-ray pill.

“All these inventions come from one skill:

“The ability to cooperate. To find good partners and work together with them. To connect intelligence to intelligence, ambition to ambition.

“My eldest son studied for his masters in France.

“He studied alongside students from here in the United Arab Emirates.

“I asked him before I came how they got along and he said, better than with anyone else.

“I asked why?

“He replied "Because they are like us. They're from our part of the world, with our mentality, with our energy."

“After two days here I know exactly what he means.

“Today, we saw the progress being made on the EXPO with the Minister.

“It is an incredible example of the way ideas become reality.

“Initiatives become real change on the ground.

“What we are opening here today isn't only a consulate.

“It's a center of cooperation.

“A place that symbolizes our ability to think together, to develop together, to change the world together.”