UAE keen to further relations with Turkiye: Official

ISTANBUL (AA) – The diplomatic advisor to the UAE president said his country is keen on developing relations with Turkiye, noting that there is a need for more cooperation between the countries in the region.

Speaking at a seminar titled “security and stability in our changing world from the perspective of the UAE,” in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, Anwar Gargash said: “The UAE is keen on its relations with Turkiye, with Iran, with Arab countries … The UAE will not be a base for harming a neighboring country like Iran.”

He stated that the UAE will always seek to resolve its disputes with Iran “through politics and diplomacy,” according to the official Emirates News Agency.

In November 2021, Ali Bagheri, Iranian deputy foreign minister for political affairs, said that his country had agreed with the UAE to "open a new page in bilateral relations," according to the Iranian IRNA news agency.

Gargash said: "It is in our interest that all the countries of the region build on the agenda of stability and prosperity."

The Emirati official stressed the need for regional platforms for cooperation and dialogue between the countries of the region, including Turkiye and Iran, based on “the principle of renunciation of violence, respect for the sovereignty of countries, and opening up prospects for economic cooperation to create regional prosperity.”

He stated that the UAE is the “third-largest economy in the Middle East after Turkiye and Saudi Arabia, and one of the largest economies in the world, with a population of 10 million and a GDP of $430 billion.”

The UAE and Turkiye have recently strengthened their relations at all levels, and the UAE is seeking to double or triple the volume of its trade with Turkiye, which is one of the most prominent signs of the warming relations between the two countries.

Currently, the UAE is Turkiye’s largest trading partner in the Gulf region and ranks second in the Gulf region in terms of direct investments in Turkiye.

In February, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan paid a visit to the UAE, the first of its kind in nearly 10 years.

Erdogan's visit to the UAE came after the visit of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, to Ankara in November 2021.

* Writing by Mahmoud Barakat