§2735a Presidential Envoy for the Abraham Accords, Negev Forum, and Related Integration and Normalization Fora and Agreements

Summary

Creates an office at the State Department called the Regional Integration Office. The office is led by a Special Presidential Envoy who is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The Envoy reports to the Secretary of State and has the rank of ambassador. The Envoy must focus only on these duties and not do other jobs in the executive branch. The Envoy will lead U.S. diplomacy to grow and deepen the Abraham Accords, the Negev Forum, and related normalization and regional integration efforts across the Middle East and North Africa and with regions like sub‑Saharan Africa and the Indo‑Pacific. The Envoy must work to create real economic and security benefits for people in those countries, act as the U.S. ministerial representative to those fora, coordinate across U.S. agencies, keep Congress regularly informed, and oppose efforts that delegitimize Israel or block normalization. The Envoy must start and lead negotiations on a framework for economic and security partnership and on an economic plan that covers supply chains, common rules and financial standards, foreign investment, energy diversity including renewables and advanced energy tech, digital economy and cybersecurity, and cross‑border data flows. The Envoy must push to include anti‑money‑laundering and counter‑terrorist‑financing standards and promote targeted investment in regional infrastructure to boost interconnectivity, growth, resilience, and U.S. national interests. The Envoy must send a report to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee within 180 days after December 22, 2023 and every year after that. The report must be unclassified but may have a classified annex. The Secretary of State must also deliver, within 180 days after December 22, 2023, an interagency strategy to use federal economic tools for targeted investment. The office ends six years after December 22, 2023, and a person already serving on December 22, 2023 who meets the requirements is treated as having been properly appointed until they leave. Definitions: Abraham Accords — the listed U.S. and partner declarations and agreements done on September 15, 2020 (Washington) and the joint declaration done on December 22, 2020 (Rabat); expand — add more regional, Arab, or Muslim‑majority states that normalize with Israel; key partners — any Abraham Accords country, Egypt, Jordan, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and other active constructive countries supporting normalization and integration; Negev Forum — the regional framework adopted November 10, 2022 or its successor; observer — a country or entity that supports the Negev Forum’s goals, is interested in projects but is not a member, and includes Cyprus and Greece in a 3+1 format; other regional actors — the Palestinian Authority or a credible future interlocutor; strengthen — improve diplomatic ties and broaden cooperation.