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American Jewish Committee (AJC) has opened an office in the United Arab Emirates and named Ambassador Marc Sievers as the office’s inaugural director. AJC Abu Dhabi: The Sidney Lerner Center for Arab-Jewish Understanding is the leading global Jewish advocacy organization’s first office in an Arab country, and its 13th overseas post. “AJC Abu Dhabi is truly historic,” said AJC CEO David Harris. “It will enable AJC to expand on our decades of bridge-building in the region and create a wider network of stakeholders in the new relationships made possible by the Abraham Accords.”

Project Interchange (PI), American Jewish Committee’s signature educational institute introducing Israel to leaders from the United States and countries around the world, plans to host delegations of policymakers and opinion influencers from countries that signed the Abraham Accords last year. The new initiative, announced today to a worldwide audience attending the 2021 AJC Virtual Global Forum is intended to support the growing foundation of peaceful cooperation in the region. The first educational seminar in Israel for Arab Gulf leaders will take place in November, and a second group will come in January 2022.

Watch the Monday 12:00 PM ET Plenary of AJC Virtual Global Forum 2021 which was dedicated to the memory of longtime AJC Leader Sidney Lerner includes an announcement about AJC's newest international office: AJC Abu Dhabi and a conversation with H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the United Arab Emirates.

H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the United Arab Emirates, discussed UAE-Israel ties, peace in the Middle East, and more with AJC Chief Policy and Political Affairs Officer Jason Isaacson, as part of the AJC Virtual Global Forum 2021 plenary dedicated to the memory of longtime AJC Leader Sidney Lerner.

At AJC Virtual Global Forum 2021, attendees heard a special announcement establishing AJC's 13th international office, AJC Abu Dhabi: The Sidney Lerner Center for Arab-Jewish Understanding, and introducing its director, Ambassador Marc J. Sievers Director, as part of the AJC Virtual Global Forum 2021 plenary dedicated to the memory of longtime AJC Leader Sidney Lerner.