File photo: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a press conference in Jerusalem on August 13, 2020. (Photo by Abir SULTAN / POOL / AFP)

The National Bank of Dubai, the largest banking group in the emirate, signed a memorandum of understanding Monday with Israel’s Bank Hapoalim, on the eve of the UAE-Israel normalisation accord signing.

“It is a great honour to be the first bank to sign such an agreement that will contribute to the establishment of the relationship between the two countries,” Bank Hapoalim’s CEO, Dov Kotler, said in a statement issued by NBD.

It said the MoU was “part of a broader engagement between the UAE and Israel to further peace, dialogue and stability and establish cooperation to promote sustainable development”.

This combination of pictures created on September 11, 2020 shows (L) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairing the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on June 28, 2020, and (R) King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain, speaking with another delegate during the 40th Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit held at the Saudi capital Riyadh on December 10, 2019.

An Israeli business and banking delegation arrived in Dubai last Tuesday on the first such visit since the August 13 announcement of a normalisation of ties between the Jewish state and the United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is a member.

On Tuesday in Washington, both the UAE and fellow Gulf state Bahrain are to sign normalisation accords with Israel.

AFP