Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan late on Monday oversaw the signing of 13 cooperation agreements and memoranda of understanding, including a letter of intent on cooperation in the defence industries.
Other areas of cooperation included health, technology, climate action and crisis and disaster management, among others.
The crown prince said the UAE was keen to cooperate with Turkey “to confront a number of common challenges that the region is witnessing” through dialogue and diplomatic resolve.
Erdogan on Monday visited the United Arab Emirates for the first time in nearly a decade to revive relations that were long strained by regional disputes.
He was greeted in the capital by Sheikh Mohammed who had travelled to Ankara in November on the first high-level visit to Turkey since 2012.
That trip “marked the beginning of a new era in relations”, Erdogan said at Istanbul airport before leaving for his two-day visit. “We are planning to take steps that will bring relations back to the level they deserve.”
Ties had been strained as Turkey and the Emirates backed opposing sides in the Libyan civil war, and sparred over issues such as gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean.
Relations were particularly tense after Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain in 2017 cut all links with Qatar, a close ally of Turkey. Those relations were restored in January 2021.
The Turkish president’s UAE visit is his first since 2013, when he was prime minister, and his first as head of state.
To greet Erdogan on his trip — which will take him to the Expo 2020 Dubai world fair Tuesday — the host country lit up the world’s tallest building, Burj Khalifa, in the red and white of the Turkish flag.
The UAE faces a growing threat from Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels, who have launched several drone and missile attacks on the Gulf country, prompting it to step up defence cooperation with the United States and France.
Following Sheikh Mohammed’s visit in November, the UAE announced a $10 billion fund for investments in Turkey, where the economy has been reeling and inflation last month surged to a near 20-year high.
Erdogan’s trip “will open a new, positive page in bilateral relations”, Anwar Gargash, adviser to the UAE president, said in a tweet.
UAE Economy Minister Abdulla bin Touq Al-Marri said his country considered economic cooperation in various areas, including defence, an integral part of its strategy and vision of the future.
“I believe that this is a vision shared by both the UAE and Turkey, and the UAE is keen to expand its partnership with Turkey in various vital fields in addition to the defence sector,” he told state news agency Anadolu in remarks published Monday.
Erdogan has since last year sought to improve ties with regional powers in the face of increasing diplomatic isolation that has caused foreign investment to dry up, particularly from the West.
Last month, he said he would visit Saudi Arabia in February, the first trip to Riyadh since relations soured over the 2018 murder of Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi inside the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul.
Turkey-UAE trade topped AED 26.4 billion ($7.2 billion) in the first half of 2021. The UAE hopes to double or triple trade volume with Turkey, which it sees as a route to new markets.
About 400 Emirati companies operate in Turkey, the UAE’s 11th largest trading partner, WAM said.
Sheikh Mohamed said that the agreements and memoranda of understanding signed by the two countries during his recent visit to Turkey laid the foundation for the launch of fresh economic and trade partnerships between the two countries, stressing the UAE’s keenness to strengthen this partnership and push it forward during the coming period to double the volume of trade exchanges between the two nations.
Sheikh Mohamed noted that strengthening development partnerships for the benefit of the peoples of the region requires cooperation between their countries, especially in light of the many commonalities between the Arab and Turkish sides and the opportunities up for grabs for achieving growth, cooperation and prosperity.
The Abu Crown Prince also added that the UAE welcomes every step on the road to cooperation, understanding and peace in the region, out of the country’s approach that is based on strengthening cooperation and coexistence to achieve development, prosperity and stability.
He said that the UAE is keen to cooperate with Turkey to face the multiple common challenges witnessed in the region through dialogue, understanding, consultation and diplomatic solutions.
Erdogan expressed delight at visiting the UAE, hailing the progress achieved by the Emirates over the recent years. “It gives me great pleasure witnessing the recent acceleration in high-level contacts between the two countries and the visit of my dear brother His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, last November to Turkey,” the Turkish president said.
He underlined the importance of the agreements signed by the two countries on strengthening bilateral relations, which covered various fields, including investment, transport and industry, in addition to advanced technologies, defense industries, health and agriculture, as well as culture, youth and media.
He said that the rapprochement between Turkey and the United Arab Emirates is key to peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region, stressing that “Turkey doesn’t consider the security and stability of all brotherly countries in the Gulf region separate from our own.”
He pointed out that Turkey was one of the first countries to condemn terrorist attacks on civil sites in the UAE, stressing his country’s condemnation and rejection of all forms and pretexts of terrorism and noting that his country will continue to firmly combat it.
President Erdogan added that economic cooperation is a significant driver of UAE-Turkish relationship, noting that the comprehensive economic partnership agreement that the two countries will begin negotiating would create a fresh impetus to double the volume of trade exchanges between the two nations.
He pointed out the importance of establishing a joint technology fund between the two countries and expanding cooperation in the field of energy to include renewable and clean energy technologies, as well as investment in chips manufacturing, the strategic importance of which, he said, has significantly been felt during the Covid-19 pandemic. “This is in addition to medical and health tourism and other joint projects that bring benefit to the two countries.”
The Turkish leader added that re-listing Turkey to the Green List of Abu Dhabi-bound flights would speed up cooperation between the two nations.
Erdogan wrote a message in the visitor’s book, in which he expressed his pleasure at visiting the UAE, wishing bilateral relations further progress in light of the many commonalities that unite the two countries. He wished continued prosperity and prosperity for the UAE and its people.
Sheikh Mohamed hosted a dinner banquet in honor of the guest president and the accompanying delegation.
With inputs from AFP and WAM