Dubai: The presence of Al Qaida in Yemen, Iran's influence on the region and the impact of unrests in Libya and Bahrain were among the concerns discussed between UAE and UK government officials over the past few days.
These issues were aired during UK Minister for Middle East and North Africa Alistair Burt's visit to the UAE when he met with UAE Deputy Foreign Minister Dr Anwar Gargash and other senior members of the UAE government to discuss the UK-UAE Taskforce.
For the past year the UK-UAE Taskforce has been in place where agreements around trade and business, energy, security (counter-terrorism and defence) and improving trade relations have been discussed.
Burt said it is projected that bilateral trade between the UAE and UK would be $12 billion by 2015, which would be a 60 per cent uplift on where it was last year.
Regional issues
"We had a long session where we looked at regional issues - Libya, Yemen and Bahrain, and we understood where each other was coming from," Burt revealed of his discussions with UAE officials.
Yemen was discussed a length he said. "Yemen is a worry to people in the region not only because of the fragility of the state there but because of the influence of Al Qaida and we worry about that."
Iran's influence in the region is not regarded as wholly beneficial, Burt added.
As far as unrest in the region is concerned, Burt said the UK government recognises that states are different and are responding in different ways. "We're all agreed that what we want to see is opportunity for people to express themselves. There's no one single answer and governments will respond differently but that there are peaceful answers to these things."
However the UK government has aimed for consistency and some absolutes, which include their stance on freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and the right to demonstrate peacefully.
"We don't believe people should be fired upon, we call upon restraints on all sides as in some cases there has been violence on more than one side and we've called for space for political dialogue to take place so that states can respond to the aspirations of people, which may require reform and change but this must be a local matter."
He cited the example of Algeria that has recently experience civil war: "Look at Algeria and the recent experience of civil war, which is tragic… hundreds of thousands of people have been killed. They may want political reform but they're not going to risk lives again."
