Dubai Expo 2020: Israel to participate

Israel will participate in the World Expo organised in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in 2020, Israeli Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

Dubai will host the international gathering under the theme “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’’ between Oct. 20, 2020, and April 10, 2021.

“I welcome the participation of Israel in the Dubai Expo,’’ Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement issued by his office.

He hailed the step as “another expression of the rising status of Israel in the world and the region.’’

The announcement was the latest sign of the warming ties between Israel and the Gulf states.

Israel does not have official ties with most Arab countries in the Middle East, including the UAE.

However, in October 2018, Netanyahu travelled to Oman.