On 25 January, the UAE’s President, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (MbZ), met with the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif, in Pakistan for bilateral talks.

The two high-ranking figures reviewed the historical ties between Islamabad and Abu Dhabi and discussed potential avenues to enhance joint cooperation in the economy, trade, and development, which falls within the framework of their strategic partnership.

The two also discussed issues of common interest and exchanged views on international, regional, and mutual concerns.

The meeting was attended by members of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, the Adviser to the UAE president Ali Mohammed Hammad al-Shamsi, Pakistan’s Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Tariq Fatemi, and the Interim Chief Minister of Punjab, alongside several other officials from both sides.

Pakistan’s greatest ally in the gulf has been Saudi Arabia for decades, as Islamabad has provided extensive military support to the kingdom alongside training the Saudi armed forces since the 1970s.  Pakistani soldiers have been stationed in Riyadh for protection assistance for decades.  Saudi Arabia is the largest importer of Pakistani arms and has purchased weaponry worth millions of US Dollars.

In the past year, the UAE has reached out to several regional nations to bolster ties given the circumstances of the global energy crisis caused by western sanctions imposed on Russia as a result of its operation in Ukraine.

Earlier this month, the UAE’s foreign minister met with Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad to discuss developing economic and trade relations. Since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, the UAE and many other gulf states cut ties with Syria over their opposition to Assad’s government.

The UAE has also sought to join Turkish-Syrian reconciliation talks “as part of efforts for peace,” which provoked Washington.

The Syrian-Turkish rapprochement via Russian mediation was paralleled by the Emirati-Syrian rapprochement – the latest of which was a “brotherly” meeting aimed at strengthening cooperation and restoring historical relations between Assad and the foreign minister of the UAE.

The UAE has also engaged in bilateral talks with the Taliban government of Afghanistan, despite Abu Dhabi not officially recognizing the Taliban’s legitimacy.

Despite the nonexistent diplomatic ties, the UAE and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) signed a contract with UAE-based company GAAC Holding to operate the country’s airports and transport infrastructure.