Jacob Helberg, the U.S. under secretary of state for economic affairs, is traveling to Israel, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates through Jan. 18 to advance strategic partnerships in the Middle East, according to the U.S. State Department.
During the trip, Helberg, who is Jewish and grew up in Paris, will “attend bilateral meetings and events to further the United States’ economic relationships and advance partnerships in emerging technologies,” the department stated.
In the UAE, which has had a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with Israel since 2023, he “will lead the United States’ delegation to the 11th U.S.-UAE Economic Policy Dialogue,” a recurring forum launched in 2012.
At a Jan. 5 digital press briefing outlining broader U.S. economic priorities, Helberg highlighted Israel’s role in advanced technologies, saying it has been “the tip of the spear in cybersecurity and frontier technologies as well as chip design.”
Helberg described efforts to reduce strategic dependencies and strengthen allied commercial links as central to U.S. policy going forward.
“Economies around the world are realizing that a new geography for the technology supply chain is needed,” he said. “With that new geography needs to come incentives as well as economic security practices.”
