ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) 鈥� U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Wednesday with the leader of the United Arab Emirates, wrapping up an overseas trip that saw since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Rubio’s talk with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, also the ruler of Abu Dhabi, comes as the U.S. also tries to continue between
The UAE, during President Donald Trump’s first term, also has been key in mediating prisoner swaps between Russia and Ukraine. Ukraine鈥檚 President Volodymyr Zelenskyy .
Rubio offered his thanks in the meeting to the UAE 鈥渇or the strength and enduring nature of the relationship, one marked by strong economic ties, defense cooperation and mutual interests in regional stability,鈥� State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement.
The meeting included discussions on artificial intelligence, the Gaza Strip, Syria, Lebanon and the Red Sea, which had been until the Gaza ceasefire, Bruce added.
The UAE’s readout focused on comments over the Gaza Strip and the Palestinians during the meeting between Rubio, Sheikh Mohammed and Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE’s foreign minister, that lasted roughly 30 minutes.
The state-run WAM news agency reported Sheikh Mohammed had told Rubio 鈥渢hat the UAE strongly opposes any attempt to displace the Palestinian people from Gaza.鈥�
Trump has said he wants to empty Gaza permanently of its more than 2 million Palestinians, saying they would not be and suggesting at one point he might to take them in by threatening to cut off U.S. aid.
Sheikh Mohammed also reportedly stressed that reconstruction in Gaza be backed by a 鈥渃omprehensive and lasting peace鈥� based on a two-state solution, which would see the Palestinians have their own future state out of Gaza and the West Bank.
Both the UAE and Saudi Arabia have been discussed as possible sites for peace talks to end the war in Ukraine, which marks its third anniversary on Monday. Saudi Arabia also has been mentioned as the possible venue for a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, providing , the kingdom’s de facto ruler.
The leaders met Rubio at an Abu Dhabi convention center that’s hosting the this week, where both Ukraine and Russia have displayed weapons 鈥� even as Moscow faces Western sanctions over the war.
. Daily flights between the Emirates and Moscow provide a lifeline for both those fleeing conscription and the Russian elite. Ukrainians as well have fled to the Emirates, an autocratically ruled federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula.
, which houses a Catholic church, a Jewish synagogue and an Islamic mosque.
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Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.
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