Mohammed bin Zayed’s talks with French President cover all issues of mutual interest: Abdullah bin Zayed

PARIS - UAE Foreign Minister Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan described today the talks between the visiting Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces Gen. Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan with his host French President Nicolas Sarkozy the Elysee Palace as ‘warm and friendly’ despite the cool weather in the French capital, Paris.

By (WAM)

Published: Fri 17 Dec 2010, 1:08 AM

Last updated: Mon 6 Apr 2015, 10:09 AM

Shaikh Abdullah said the UAE is currently assuming the chairmanship of the GCC and France is about to take the rotating presidency of the G8 and G20 and, of course, a host of political, security or economic issues were discussed.

Asked about whether the Mohammed-Sarkozy talks touched on the Iranian file, the UAE foreign minister said:’ All issues whether dealing with Middle East peace or the situation in Lebanon after the trip of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad to France and the Iranian nuclear dossier particularly following the Geneva talks were discussed.

On whether there were a French initiative towards the situation in Lebanon, Shaikh Abdullah referred to a high note of optimism during the talks between Shaikh Mohammed and President Sarkozy about this issue. An Elysee informed source said the Mohammed-Sarkozy meeting was extremely positive, indicating that the French president had taken upon himself since he took office three years ago to make deepening of the French-Emirati bonds among his top priorities and that economic partnership with the UAE acts as the heart of our joint cooperation while political cooperation had reached an unprecedented level. He said that President Sarkozy noted that the partnership with the UAE had reached strategic level after the opening of the French military base in Abu Dhabi and described the UAE as France’s ally in the region for peace. ‘Our cooperation also covered the cultural major projects like the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the source said quoting Sarkozy.

Sarkozy, he added, had commended the positive role of the UAE in the region as indispensable.

The Elysee source indicated that Sarkozy had expressed satisfaction at the progress of joint cooperation especially in the training field where about 600 UAE students are attending educational institutions in France.

According to him, the UAE and France are jointly training Afghani non-commissioned officers in the military base in Abu Dhabi. So far about 900 officers have so far been trained. On the Iranian nuclear file, the French source noted the identical points of view between Paris and Abu Dhabi but there were concern about the current situation. The two sides hoped that Iran would opt for cooperation with the international community.