Washington, DC – On a sunny Monday (May 15), US President Donald Trump hosted Shaikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi to discuss bilateral relations and increase cooperation.
Seated across from the Crown Prince, President Trump said, “Great honor to have Shaikh Mohammed with us today, a man that I’ve known, very special, very special person, highly respected,” adding, “And loves his country, I can tell you that, loves his country. And I think loves the United States, which to us is very important.”
When pressed about how his search for an FBI director to replace James Comey was going, President Trump eventually responded, telling journalists: “Moving rapidly.”
Later US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis met with the Crown Prince at the White House to discuss bilateral defense partnership, the Pentagon’s chief spokesperson, Dana W. White, said in a statement.
At the meeting, Mattis and Prince Mohammed, who is also the deputy supreme commander of UAE’s armed forces, lauded the conclusion of a new bilateral defense cooperation agreement, which, White said, will enable closer and more agile collaboration against a range of threats over the next fifteen years.
“The agreement marks a new chapter in our partnership and reflects the breadth and depth of our ongoing cooperation, which is underpinned by the mutual respect we share for the professionalism and efficacy of our armed forces,” Mattis said, according to the statement. “I look forward to continuing to work with the UAE in support of security and stability in the Middle East and around the world.”
The two leaders discussed a range of shared security threats, White said, including the ongoing instability in Yemen and Libya and the campaign in Iraq and Syria to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. They also affirmed their shared values and interests, she said, including freedom of navigation, territorial sovereignty for the states of the Arabian Peninsula and the fight against extremism.
The prince is in Washington for a two-day visit to the US and is accompanied by a high-level delegation that includes Shaikh Tahnoun Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, National Security Adviser, Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and Ali Hammad Al Shamsi, Deputy Secretary General of the Supreme National Security Council.
According to the media traveling with him, the delegation also includes Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of the Executive Affairs Authority, Yousef Al Otaiba, UAE Ambassador to the US, Mohammad Mubarak Al Mazroui, Undersecretary of the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince’s Court, and Lieutenant General Eisa Saif Ablan Al Mazroui, Deputy Chief of Staff of the UAE Armed Forces.
Tejinder Singh, Editor, India America Today & White House Correspondent