After the United Arab Emirates (UAE) President’s first visit to the United States, the country’s Foreign Minister stated that the UAE is actively strengthening its relationship with the United States.
The U.S. State Department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, said in a statement on Friday, September 27 that Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Thursday, September 26.
The statement highlighted that Blinken and Sheikh Abdullah reiterated the “vibrant strategic partnership between the two countries” and discussed opportunities to deepen cooperation and promote peace and stability.
During their meeting, Blinken and the Foreign Minister discussed topics such as the situation in the Middle East and the Gaza conflict.
According to the statement, Blinken and the Foreign Minister discussed the importance of the 21-day ceasefire agreement reached on the Israeli-Lebanese border and diplomatic solutions to help civilians on both sides of the border return to their homes. They also discussed efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza.
Sheikh Abdullah was quoted by Reuters as saying in a statement that the UAE is actively strengthening its relationship with the United States. However, the statement did not provide detailed information. The report mentioned that this is a sign of warming relations between the two countries after several frictions during President Biden’s tenure.
This week, UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan visited Washington for the first time, marking the fourth bilateral meeting between the two country’s leaders since Biden took office.
Sheikh Mohamed also held meetings with Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. This is the first visit to the United States by the incumbent UAE President since the country’s founding in 1971.
After meeting with Sheikh Mohamed, Biden designated the UAE as a major defense partner of the United States. Prior to this, India was the only country recognized by the U.S. as a major defense partner.
Additionally, this year, the United States and the UAE have deepened cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence (AI).
Under the mediation of the Biden administration, UAE tech giant G42 announced this year that it will remove Huawei’s telecommunications equipment from its systems and terminate any cooperation with China to engage in collaboration with U.S. companies in the field of artificial intelligence. Currently, Microsoft is a major investor in G42.
During his visit to the U.S., Sheikh Mohamed also met with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang.