UAE, UK commit to elevate future partnership

LONDON: Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, met with the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, the Rt Hon James Cleverly MP, for the first UK-UAE Strategic Dialogue in London on Monday (May 15, 2023).

The Strategic Dialogue produced the UAE-UK Joint Communiqué as follows:

The Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, James Cleverly MP, hosted Sheikh Abdullah for the inaugural UK-UAE Strategic Dialogue in London on 15 May 2023.

The Strategic Dialogue builds on the visit of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, in September 2021, during which both countries’ leaders agreed to establish a Partnership for the Future.

The ambitious Partnership set the roadmap for collaboration between the UK and UAE, and it was agreed through it that the Foreign Ministers co-chair the Strategic Dialogue to drive progress under the Partnership for the Future.

The Strategic Dialogue underscored the strength of the bilateral relationship, noting the breadth of the collaboration between the two countries, their shared history, and enduring commitment to deepening ties and enhancing people-to-people relations.

The ministers reiterated their commitment to the relationship and welcomed the growing partnership across a range of sectors, welcoming the inaugural Strategic Dialogue as an important moment in the bilateral relationship. during the Strategic Dialogue, both ministers agreed on the need for cooperation to tackle global challenges.

The ministers discussed the importance of an inclusive and ambitious agenda for the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) to be held at Expo City Dubai in November 2023.

Both ministers reiterated the importance of increased ambition and implementation in this critical decade and the need to deliver a robust and unified response to the Global Stocktake to close the ambition gaps in mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage, and climate finance in order to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, including keeping 1.5C in reach; and to halt and reverse global forest and biodiversity loss.

Together they reiterated the need for accelerating climate action and collaborating on long-term projects that enhance cooperation on clean energy, climate finance, adaptation, nature, and food systems, and agreed to further elaborate these partnerships.