CROWN PRINCE BIN ZAYED: (In progress) This is a very important opportunity, and I’m sure we have a lot to talk about, especially between our bilateral relationship.
SECRETARY BLINKEN: Your Highness, I’m grateful for the time today, and actually I’m grateful for the time every day because the partnership between our countries truly matters to the United States. The UAE is a leader in the region, increasingly a leader in the world, and the many things that we are trying to do, including for our own people around the world, are going to be much more effective if they’re doing them together with you.
And we have a lot of challenges, but we also have some remarkable opportunities. We were just, as you know, in the Negev, and that in and of itself was an extraordinary moment, and it’s the product in large part of the vision and courage you and other leaders in the UAE brought to it. Sheikh Abdullah spoke very powerfully, and eloquently, and from the heart about what this could represent, and that had a real impact, I think.
At the same time, we have real challenges to confront together in the region and beyond – in the region, in Yemen, the aggression being committed by the Houthis, including terrorist attacks against the UAE, against Saudi Arabia. We’re determined to do everything we can to help you defend yourselves effectively against that. We will be consulting on Iran, another shared challenge, the status of the talks on the JCPOA, but also the work we can do together and need to do together to strengthen our collective security.
And finally, we have, unfortunately, Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the impact it’s having not only in Europe but around the world, including here – food prices, energy prices, all of this. But for all of this, I must tell you we are grateful for and committed to the partnership that we have with the UAE, and I am grateful for the time to be able to spend some time to talk to you about that today. Thank you.
CROWN PRINCE BIN ZAYED: It’s my pleasure, sir.
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