A letter to US-President Biden sent ahead of the upcoming release of the Administration’s 2023 trade policy agenda and follows a bipartisan delegation visit Lankford and Rosen, who are co-founders and co-chairs of the Senate Abraham Accords Caucus, led with several of their Senate colleagues to the Abraham Accords countries. ‘VonNaftali‘ reported.
On the heels of the Senators’ trip, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the expansion of the Abraham Accords to cybersecurity. DHS wrote on the 2nd Febrary ’23: ““The expansion of the Abraham Accords into cybersecurity is advancing our defensive operational collaboration with Israel and our partners across the Middle East to protect our critical infrastructure,” said DHS Under Secretary for Policy Robert Silvers. “Together we can harness our capabilities to address the most pressing cybersecurity challenges to drive security and resilience.”
Under Secretary Silvers participates in a panel with Israel National Cyber Directorate Director General Gaby Portnoy, Head of the UAE Cyber Security Council H.E. Dr. Mohamed Al Kuwaiti, CEO of the Bahrain National Cyber Security Center Shaikh Salman bin Mohamed bin Abdulla al-Khalifa, and Director General of Morocco’s Directorate General of Information Systems Security Brig. General El Mostafa Rabii in Tel Aviv at the 2nd of February ’23
The Senate Abraham Accords Caucus wrote in his letter to US-Preseident Biden: “In anticipation of the forthcoming submission of your 2023 Trade Policy Agenda later this year, we respectfully request that your Agenda include a comprehensive strategy to leverage U.S. trade policy to strengthen and expand the Abraham Accords. As you know, this Agenda is required to be submitted to Congress no later than March 1, in conjunction with USTR’s annual budget request. Federal law also requires you to consult with relevant congressional committees with respect to the Agenda prior to its submission. We ask that you use this Agenda as an opportunity to outline an ambitious vision to leverage trade as a tool to strengthen and expand the Abraham Accords by utilizing our existing trade agreements in the region, as well as new economic opportunities made possible by the Negev Forum and other initiatives related to Arab-Israeli normalization.“
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