Abu Dhabi: Newly-appointed US Secretary of State John Kerry has chosen to make the Middle East — including the UAE — part of his first trip since he replaced Hillary Clinton as a key member of second-time elect President Barack Obama’s inner circle.
Kerry will travel to Middle East countries in the first week of March and is expected to meet senior leaders and officials to discuss a range of bilateral and global issues that are being closely coordinated by the US.
Kerry will also participate in a ministerial meeting with his counterparts from the Gulf Cooperation Council nations.
As part of the trip, Kerry will also visit the UAE and in this regard a group of American experts in foreign affairs will arrive ahead of the visit. Kerry, during his UAE visit, will hold meetings with the UAE leadership including the UAE Foreign Minister Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The two leaders are expected to discuss US co-operation on a wide range of shared concerns and bilateral relations.
During his visit to Abu Dhabi, Kerry will sit down with senior officials and discuss the US-UAE’s continued close coordination on issues of mutual interest.
The top Obama aide’s visit to the UAE will follow his trips to Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia and will end in Qatar.
In Cairo, Egypt, Kerry will meet senior Egyptian officials, other political leaders, civil society leaders, and the business community to encourage greater political consensus and moving forward on economic reforms.
While in Cairo, he will also meet Arab League Secretary General Nabeel Al Araby to consult on US-Egypt’s many shared challenges across the region.
In Turkey, he will meet Turkish officials to discuss his country’s strategic priorities — from ending the crisis in Syria to promoting regional stability, peace, and security — as well as explore areas to deepen US-Turkey cooperation, including counter-terrorism
