DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Middle Eastern online retailer Noon.com has partnered with eBay to give shoppers in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates a way to more easily buy products online from the U.S. and other parts of the world.

Noon.com, which announced the agreement on Tuesday, said customers can make select eBay orders on Noon's website starting from the second half of 2018 and access products that are not otherwise readily available in the region.

The online shopping website is backed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, as well as Mohamed Alabbar, chairman for Dubai developer Emaar Properties, and other Gulf investors.

Noon is a new force and a potential competitor to the region's biggest online retailer, Souq.com, which was purchased by Amazon last year for $586 million.