It’s the first-ever official visit of a UAE President to Washington DC…

UAE President and Ruler of Abu Dhabi, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan began his official visit to the USA with a round of important meetings on cooperative strategies across various policy topics.

This, what is the first-ever official visit of a UAE President to Washington, will include in depth discussions with US President Joe Biden, and US Vice President and official Democratic nominee for the 2024 US Presidential Elections, Kamala Harris.

Key notes

Building on five decades of friendship, HH Sheikh Mohamed’s trip to the US capital is all about strengthening ties and finding common ground on areas such as peace and stability across the Middle East and beyond; economic policy; clean energy; trade; space; AI; investment; technology; supply chain resilience; climate change; defence; cybersecurity; and humanitarian operations in Gaza and Sudan.

On Gaza

Part of the U.S.-UAE Joint Leaders’ Statement, issued on Monday September 24 highlights the commitment of the leadership from both countries to “continue working together towards ending the conflict, calling for a lasting and sustainable ceasefire”.

On Space

The Joint Statement also reaffirmed the UAE and US as partners in exploring space.

It comes as the UAE Space Agency begins preparations for the Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt, the first “multi-asteroid tour and landing mission”. This landmark project will be conducted with the assistance of US partner, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder.

That’s not the only cosmic dalliance the two countries will be collaborating on. Back in January, we had the announcement that the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center would be working with NASA to build an airlock for Gateway – the first lunar orbit space station and key component of the Artemis Program.

Images: WAM