UAE crown prince meets Israel’s PM Bennett to boost ties

Dubai, Dec 13 (EFE).- Crown prince and the de facto ruler of the United Arab Emirates Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan on Monday received Naftali Bennett, the first Israeli prime minister to visit the Gulf country, in a meeting designed to boost recently established bilateral relations.

The visit would help “promote cooperative relations towards more positive steps for the benefit of the two peoples and the region,” Bin Zayed said as he welcomed Bennett, according to the state-run WAM news agency.

UAE’s foreign relations are based on the principles of “mutual respect, establishment of the values of coexistence and peace, the best way to achieve the aspirations of the peoples,” the prince added.

The UAE was the first country in the region to sign up to the so-called Abraham Accords in 2020, normalizing ties with Israel. Other Arab nations like Bahrain and Morocco followed, as did Sudan although the African country has yet to sign the convention officially.

Bennett praised the “level of cooperation between the two countries” within the framework of the agreements, signed in 2020 in Washington and sponsored by the former United States president Donald Trump.

At the end of the meeting, both stressed the importance of “expanding qualitative alliances in the fields of investment and the economy, which address the priorities of sustainable development in the two countries and in the region,” according to WAM.

It was not revealed whether or not they discussed Iran amid Israeli concerns over a series of conditions the Islamic Republic listed during ongoing negotiations in Vienna to salvage the 2015 nuclear agreement with word powers.

The Israeli prime minister’s visit to the UAE comes just a week after Emirati national security adviser Tahnoun bin Zayed al Nahyan traveled to Iran to meet with Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi. EFE

ba-ijm/ta