Athens: The UAE and Greece are joining forces. On Tuesday the countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding on political consultations to enhance relations between them.
Foreign Minister Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Greek acting Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas signed the memorandum during a meeting in Athens.
They discussed their ties and ways to strengthen their cooperation, especially in tourism, cultural matters, and renewable energy sources.
Shaikh Abdullah praised the progressive relations between the two countries, which culminated by the Greek President's visit to the UAE last January.
"We in the UAE are witnessing progress in all fields, particularly in economy," Shaikh Abdullah said. "We give a great importance to our relations with Greece."
He added that the UAE was considered the second largest economy in the region and that the country was concerned with developing investments abroad.
Shaikh Abdullah expressed the hope that the two countries would soon ratify the agreement on avoidance of double taxation to speed up joint investments.
Joint committee
He extended an invitation to the Greek Foreign minister to visit the UAE to sign another memorandum of understanding on the formation of the UAE-Greece joint committee.
For his part, Droutsas welcomed Shaikh Abdullah's visit to Greece, describing it as "a very important and a proof to the dynamic relations between the two countries and the mutual desire to develop them."
He added that the memorandum of understanding signed earlier yesterday would pave the way for stronger cooperation through bilateral talks between officials and bolstering economic and commercial cooperation.
He expressed pleasure over the large number of Greek companies operating in the UAE and welcomed UAE investments here.
Earlier, Greek President Carlos Papoulias received Shaikh Abdullah who conveyed greetings from President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
The Greek President in turn conveyed his greetings to Shaikh Khalifa and stressed that his country was keen to further bolster relations with the UAE.
He added that the visit came at a time Greece was suffering from an acute economic downturn, indicating that his country would sacrifice to overcome the crisis.
Abdullah has meetings with counterparts
Luxembourg: Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Foreign Minister, participated in the informal meeting held Monday in Luxembourg along with a number of Arab foreign ministers and their counterparts in the European Union.
Those who took part in the meeting also included Ahmad Aboul Gheit, Egypt's Foreign Minister, Nasser Gouda, Jordanian Foreign Minister, Amr Moussa, Secretary General League of Arab States and Yasser Abed-Rabbo, secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in addition to foreign ministers of Luxembourg, Switzerland and Denmark.
The meeting which was held at the invitation of the Current Spanish Presidency of the European Union, discussed the stalled Palestinian - Israeli negotiations and ways of achieving peace in the Middle East.
