The German foreign minister is visiting the UAE as part of a tour of the region.
Apart from reviewing progress in bilateral bonds and ways of enhancing them for the best interest of the two countries, the two ministers exchanged views on the latest regional and international developments and issues of mutual interest.
Speaking at a joint press conference with the visiting German minister after the talks, Sheikh Abdullah :”Germany is a friendly country and it is important in this time to intensify our contacts with it at all domains whether bilateral or regional or international”.
Sheikh Abdullah said the German foreign minister had the opportunity to confer today with H.H. Gen. Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and the meeting was ”fruitful”.
Sheikh Abdullah said ”We are proud to have the first German zero-emission Embassy ………… we in the UAE are striving to reduce carbon emissions by ploughing more investment in the renewable energy sector and building peaceful nuclear plants…….. the UAE is planning to inject carbon dioxide into oil fields and improve legislations concerning building materials to boost electric power efficiency which will, in turn, lower carbon emissions.
Sheikh Abdullah said the UAE would be looking forward to join hands with Germany in supporting projects in countries that need to develop infrastructure in renewable energy.
On imposing sanctions on Iran, the UAE foreign minister said ;”We are impacted by any thing Iran is doing or exposed to ……We in the UAE view the urgency of cooperation with of Iran with significant importance and communicating with it with concern but we look at the issue of non-transparency in the Iranian nuclear programme especially after the International Atomic Energy Agency’s repeated reports which raise question about that programme. We demand Iran to show more cooperation and clarification and action to set the mind of the international community and its neighbours at rest primarily.
”This is exactly what the countries of the region and the world need. Iran must cooperate with the UN security council and the International Atomic Energy Agency to close that dossier politically and diplomatically. There were several previous security council resolutions which imposed sanctions on Iran. However, it is appear that more sanctions are on the pipe,”Sheikh Abdullah further added”.
”We hope the Iranians will heed this advice from us and from their friends from different parts of the world and send out a positive or clear message indicating their nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only and not more than that,”he signaled.
The UAE top diplomat added that ”The UAE has adopted a transparent and distinguished approach in its peaceful nuclear programme and we have seen the international cooperation and competition among countries of the world to invest in the UAE … We hope Iran would follow the UAE’s suit.
For his part, the German foreign minister highlighted his country’s strong bonds with the UAE in various field, noting that the UAE is the most important partner to Germany in the Arab World in terms of exports.
According to him, there are 750 German companies in the UAE operating in various field the most important of them are energy and infrastructure.
He said the two countries had agreed to push their distinguished economic and political relations forward.
”The Arabian Gulf Region is important and the UAE is playing a crucial role to maintain its stability,’ he said, indicating to Sheikh Abdullah’s special role in this respect as a major facilitator in solving Arab and international issues.
He paid tribute to Sheikh Abdullah for his commitment to boosting cooperation between the UAE and Germany in particular and UAE with Europe in general.
He explained that his talks with his UAE counterpart had covered political issues concerning Yemen and Iran’s nuclear programme and ”we have agreed on these topics and this signifies the importance of bolstering our partnership.
He said” a success story is being written on the UAE land as there is a strong inter-connection between political will and economy.
He said that the German project on zero emissions of carbon dioxide is receiving support from the UAE.
He said Germany is planning to build major projects of this type and its Embassy in Abu Dhabi is entrusted to advance this project.
