The leaders of Israel, India, the United States and the United Arab Emirates held their first four-part summit on Zoom today, in the framework of the I2U2 forum established by Prime Minister Yair Lapid last October as foreign minister. The four leaders agreed to work together, harnessing their countries’ capabilities and ingenuity to address global challenges such as food security, fighting climate change and clean energy.

A statement issued before the Zoom meeting read, “This unique grouping of countries aims to harness the vibrancy of our societies and entrepreneurial spirit to tackle some of the greatest challenges confronting our world, with a particular focus on joint investments and new initiatives in water, energy, transportation, space, health, and food security.”

The statement went on, “We intend to mobilize private sector capital and expertise to modernize infrastructure, advance low carbon development pathways for our industries, improve public health and access to  vaccines, advance physical connectivity between countries in the Middle East region, jointly create new solutions for waste treatment, explore joint financing opportunities, connect our startups to I2U2 investments, and promote the development of critical emerging and green technologies, all while ensuring near- and long-term food and energy security.”  

Addressing his three counterparts, Lapid said that the I2U2 forum is “interesting because we are four very different countries, but when we started talking, it became clear we all want the same things: for our children to be warm in the winter, for them to have food on the table and clean water from the tap, for them to enjoy a quality education and advanced health care and transportation infrastructure.”