The president received the British prime minister and the accompanying delegation in Abu Dhabi on Monday. They are currently visiting the UAE in the final leg of their Gulf tour that also included Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Brown, who expressed his delight at visiting the UAE and meeting the president, hailed the strong historical relations between Britain and the UAE. During their meeting, the two sides conferred on the ways to bolster the friendly relations between the two countries in various avenues.
General Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and the British Ambassador to the UAE, Edward Oakden, were also present at the meeting.
Meanwhile, Brown will be in Dubai on Tuesday to “reinforce Britain’s friendship with key partners” and to hold discussions to enhance the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) capacity to bail out countries hit by the meltdown.
The impact of the credit crunch, future investment strategies, Dubai Strategic Plan 2015 and potential UAE-UK partnerships are on the agenda of the British prime minister and the high-level business delegation accompanying him. The British prime minister is accompanied by Lord Mandelson, British Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. Brown is on his first visit to the UAE since he became Prime Minister in 2007.
He will visit the Dubai International Financial Centre, attend a meeting with senior businessmen and also take part in an event being organised by the UAE Chapter of Young Arab Leaders, which will host its next summit next year at London Business School, UK.
According to a media spokesman at the British Embassy in Dubai, Brown and the British business delegation will meet with senior Emirati businessmen, who represent major companies and organisations of Dubai. The meet will be chaired by Julia Wheeler, BBC’s Gulf correspondent.
Brown’s four-day visit to Gulf countries comes in the wake of the global meltdown that has resulted in economic chaos. Brown, according to international media reports, is hoping that the Gulf states would help increase the IMF’s £250 billion ($ 400 billion) emergency provision by hundreds of billions of dollars.
