Berlin (AFP) – The leader of the United Arab Emirates began a state visit to Germany on Thursday, during which deals worth billions of euros will be signed in sectors including energy and technology, Emirati diplomats said. Berlin rolled out the red carpet for Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who was received with military honours by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and was later to meet Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Security was tight for the visit, with Berlin cordoning off flag-lined streets and deploying large numbers of police.
“Over the course of this visit, the UAE and Germany will make a number of key announcements and multibillion-euro agreements across investment, business, technology, AI and energy,” senior UAE diplomat Lana Nusseibeh said at a briefing ahead of the visit. The visit comes as the US war against Iran has roiled the Gulf region, with US President Donald Trump’s erratic diplomacy unsettling many midsize powers and leading them to diversify their strategic and economic partnerships. Merz visited the Gulf region in February, shortly before the US-Israeli war started against Iran. He said then that “we need such partnerships more than ever at a time when major powers are increasingly dominating politics”.
The UAE is Germany’s largest trading partner in the Gulf, with bilateral trade topping $15 billion last year, and many big German companies have a presence there including BMW, Siemens, ThyssenKrupp, and rail operator Deutsche Bahn. The UAE, meanwhile, has made major investments in Germany, including in the chemical industry and offshore wind power. During Merz’s visit in February, German energy giant RWE and Abu Dhabi’s national oil company ADNOC signed a memorandum of understanding on LNG imports over the next decade.
Gulf countries have also long bought defence equipment from Germany and have shown interest in start-ups that make drones to bolster NATO’s deterrence efforts against Russia. Germany, the largest EU economy, supports talks towards a European Union free trade deal with the Emirates. The group Human Rights Watch called on German leaders during the visit to “publicly call out the United Arab Emirates’ human rights record and its role in regional conflicts”. No joint press conference was scheduled with Merz and Sheikh Mohamed.
© 2024 AFP
