UAE leader seeks to deepen ‘strategic’ ties in US visit during Mideast crisis

UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan is due Monday in Washington for a predominant reliable spin to at a time of hovering tensions in the Middle East, trying to safe to highlight financial and technological cooperation.

Presidential handbook Anwar Gargash acknowledged the Emiratis, who want to reorient their economy a ways from oil and towards fresh technologies comparable to AI, had been pondering “economy first, prosperity first” in their “strategic relationship” with america.

With his upcoming commute, Sheikh Mohamed will turn into the first sitting president of the oil-successfully off Gulf monarchy to kind an reliable spin to to Washington.

He is scheduled to meet with US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who is running to prevail Biden, the White Rental acknowledged.

US officers acknowledged the tip agenda items had been the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and the war in Sudan, the put the UAE has been accused of backing one of many warring events — a price it denies.

Talking to journalists this week, Gargash acknowledged that without ignoring “things taking place in Gaza or things taking place in other areas”, the president’s spin to will focal level on deepening alternate and technological ties.

The “UAE is attempting to scramble extra alongside an financial and technological leer, with the chunky realisation that we’re in the autumn (season) of the hydrocarbon age”, the adviser acknowledged.

He acknowledged the UAE’s ties with america had been “our most important strategic relationship”, at the same time as “once in some time folks love to chat about some tensions in the relationship”.

The UAE, expected to be a key contributor to the Gaza Strip’s post-war reconstruction, additionally has shut ties with Russia and refused to condemn the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Sheikh Mohamed’s commute follows a intriguing escalation of hostilities between Israel and the Lebanese team Hezbollah that raised fears of a widening Middle East war.

The UAE, a federation of sheikhdoms, is one of a handful of Arab states to recognise Israel and enjoys growing clout in the Middle East owing to its oil wealth, alternate atmosphere and reputation for stability.

It additionally neighbours oil enormous Saudi Arabia, which the US has been pressing to forge relatives with Israel in the hope of calming a situation pushed to the threshold by the Israel-Hamas war.

Sheikh Mohamed, who turned into president in Might perhaps maybe perhaps 2022 after several years of de facto rule, has sturdy relatives with China and India and has visited every countries this Three hundred and sixty five days.

In April, Microsoft launched a $1.5 billion funding in UAE synthetic intelligence company G42, as Abu Dhabi simultaneously shifted a ways from Chinese partnerships in AI.

“Why are we making a bet on abilities? If we admire that hydrocarbon is on theway out, slowly but no doubt, then we must switch the earnings scramble by something else,” Gargash acknowledged.

He added: “Slightly plenty of things are in the pipeline. We’re laying a blueprint… and we must accomplice with you (US) in expose for us to gain these things.”