By Dov Lieber

ABU DHABI -- Israel and the United Arab Emirates agreed to promote bilateral trade and business activity as they move to normalize ties, but pushed discussion over the thorny issue of the sale of advanced U.S. military hardware to the Emiratis to a later stage.

A delegation of top Israeli and American officials were in the U.A.E. capital for a two-day visit to discuss areas of collaboration after a historic U.S.-brokered diplomatic breakthrough between the two countries last month.

On Tuesday, they signed a deal to create a joint committee to establish cooperation on various fronts -- from financial services and joint investments to combating terror financing and money laundering. That came after delegations from both sides stayed up overnight to put the finishing touches on the agreement.

"There was special interest from the Emirati side to start building a bridge by bringing investment from Israel to the Emirates and vice versa, " said Lior Haiat, an Israeli foreign ministry spokesman who participated in the talks.

The talks were "all very promising," said Jamal Al Musharakh, an official in the U.A.E. foreign ministry. "The process of commencing bilateral relations is well under way," he said.

Besides economic activity, officials said the two sides also discussed flights, visas, health, culture, tourism, space and science and trade.

But the talks centered only on civilian affairs, leaving open the difficult question of whether Israel would agree to the U.S. selling F-35 stealth jet fighters to the Emiratis.

The U.A.E. has long sought the jet fighters, and the deal to normalize diplomatic relations with Israel was forged with an understanding that the Emiratis could have access to more advanced American military hardware, according to U.S. officials.

Israeli defense officials have publicly opposed the sale, arguing it would damage Israel's qualitative military edge in the region.

On Tuesday morning, senior White House official Jared Kushner, who played a key role in brokering the Israeli-Emirati diplomatic breakthrough, and national security adviser Robert O'Brien visited the Al Dhafra Air Base to discuss American-Emirati military ties. The U.S. Air Force has F-35s deployed at the base.

Speaking to an audience of Emirati military officials, Mr. O'Brien said the new Israel-U.A.E. relations "will have not just economic and educational and cultural value, but also significant security aspects to it."

However, Israeli and Emirati officials said the issue of whether the U.S. would sell the F-35s to the U.A.E. wasn't discussed in this round of negotiations.

For now, the officials said the focus is on building economic ties that would help cement the diplomatic breakthrough.

Until a few weeks ago, Israelis doing business in the U.A.E. had to shroud their dealings in secrecy, often involving the help of non-Israeli third-party companies to represent the Israelis in the small Gulf nation.

In recent years, over 500 Israeli companies, mostly tech and security firms, have conducted business in the U.A.E. despite the current limitations, Mr. Haiat said. He added that Israel hopes the understandings being formed would lead to hundreds of more Israeli companies doing business in the U.A.E.

Mr. Haiat said the Israelis also hoped their deal with the U.A.E would broaden commercial relations in the region and facilitate trade with Asia, especially as flight times eastward could be significantly decreased. The Israeli official said direct flights between the two countries could start as early as before the end of the year.

Officials from both countries said they also want to set up embassies in the other's country as soon as possible, but had no estimate of when that could occur. An Emirati official said any Emirati embassy in Israel would be located in Tel Aviv rather than in Jerusalem.

The Trump administration in 2018 moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which much of the world views as a city contested by Israelis and Palestinians.

Nearly all Arab nations have refused to normalize relations with Israel until a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is found. The recent Israeli-Emirati diplomatic breakthrough came only after Israel promised to suspend plans to annex settlements in the West Bank, where Palestinians hope to establish an independent state.

While Israel says it still can move forward with annexation later, Mr. Musharakh said that Abu Dhabi has received assurances from Washington that the process has been halted indefinitely.