Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, arrived in Abu Dhabi on Monday on an official state visit, state news agency WAM reported.
Upon her arrival at the Presidential Airport, Merkel was greeted by Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.
An official reception ceremony was held in honour of the German Chancellor, where both the UAE and German national anthems were played and a 21-gun salute was fired in honour of the guest, WAM said.
A group of school children from the German School in Abu Dhabi also greeted Merkel, waving the flags of the two countries.
Talks covered “bilateral political and economic relations… the crises in Syria, Libya and Yemen as well as efforts by the two countries to combat extremism”, WAM reported.
WAM has reported the UAE is Germany’s main trading partner in the Gulf, with annual trade worth around $16 billion.
German investments in the United Arab Emirates stand at around 2.4 billion euros ($2.6 billion), according to German government sources.
Merkel’s UAE visit comes after meetings Sunday with top Saudi officials in Jeddah, where the German chancellor signed a string of draft agreements with King Salman covering industry, economic relations and security.
The German delegation included Steffen Seibert, German Government spokesperson, Gotz Lingenthal, German Ambassador to the UAE, and Christoph Heusgen, Foreign and Security Policy Adviser to the German Chancellor.
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