Abu Dhabi: The UAE is giving more attention to the Asian nations resulting in a high level of cooperation and collaboration between them, a diplomat said on Thursday.
The visit of Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Foreign Minister, to several Asian countries this year proves this point, said Kairat Lama Sharif, the ambassador of Kazakhstan to the UAE. He was speaking to Gulf News on the sidelines of a fortnightly meeting of Group of Asian Ambassadors in the UAE on Thursday, which was hosted by him.
Twenty-nine ambassadors of Asian countries are members of the group that meets twice a month to share success stories and development projects in their countries.
Ahmad Anwar Adnan, the Malaysian Ambassador to the UAE, is the present chairman of the group. Each ambassador takes turn to host the regular meeting and it was the Kazakhstan ambassador’s turn on Thursday.
Sharif said he was happy to work as a diplomat in a country that has a global stature. “The fact that the UAE is hosting more than 100 (one hundred) foreign diplomatic missions shows that it is giving attention to almost all countries across the world.”
He appreciated the contributions of T.P. Seetharam, the Indian ambassador, and Chang Hua, the Chinese ambassador, who are leaving the UAE after ending their terms. As the representatives of two leading Asian nations, they played a major role in the diplomatic community. President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan bestowed the Order of Independence upon Seetharam and Hua, which is a testimony to their contributions, Sharif said.
Seetharam was presented with a memento at the event. Hua could not attend the meeting because of an official engagement.
The meeting also welcomed the new ambassadors of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, and the new chargé d’affaires at the Turkmenistan Embassy in Abu Dhabi.
Sharif presented a manifesto of Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Titled “The world — 21st Century”, it says there is a threat of a deadly war on a global scale and calls for immediate actions for peace and harmony. “Our civilisation, by scholars’ estimates, has survived more than 15,000 wars, approximately three every year. The virus of war continues to poison the international situation. It drives the military-industrial complex, which in some countries has become the most powerful sector of the economy. It may even in the future infect the development of artificial intelligence. Militarism has deeply penetrated our minds and behaviour. There are more than one billion small firearms in the hands of people. Thousands of civilians die every day from their use,” the president said.
