The UAE Foreign Minister visited Washington to discuss foreign policy and economic issues.
Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan completed his three-day visit to the US capital Washington, during which he discussed with senior officials of the United States of America bilateral economic relations and the destabilizing activity of Iran in the region.
Sheikh Abdullah met with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, National Security Advisor John Bolton, Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin and members of Congress from both parties. It is worth noting that this visit was the Minister’s first visit to the United States since last June.
Sheikh Abdullah oversaw the signing of an agreement between the United States and the United Arab Emirates regarding regulation of the aviation industry, which maintains an open skies for carriers, and discussed economic relations and "joint efforts to combat extremist groups and destabilizing Iran in the Middle East."
During meetings with Mr. Mnuchin and leaders of Congress, Sheikh Abdullah emphasized hundreds of billions of dollars of UAE investments in the United States. He noted the leadership of the UAE in the ranking of US export destinations in the Middle East over the past nine years, and also noted bilateral trade between the countries, which over the past decade has reached $ 24.3 billion.
Sheikh Abdullah and Mr. Mnuchin also discussed countering terrorism and illegal financing, stressing the need for all countries to "be vigilant about Iran’s attempts to use its financial institutions to exchange currencies and undermine stability in the Middle East."
The fruit of the joint work of the UAE and the USA was the opening of the Center for Combating the Financing of Terrorism in 2017. At the meeting, Sheikh Abdullah also noted the campaign of the United States and the United Arab Emirates aimed at suppressing a large-scale currency exchange network organized to supply cash to the Iranian special forces military unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).
In terms of economics, Sheikh Abdullah called on the United States to review “restrictions related to national security,” namely Section 232, “Import of aluminum and steel from the UAE,” as transactions in this area account for 25 percent of total UAE exports.
