Senior US diplomat Victoria Nuland calls Expo 2020 Dubai awe-inspiring

Undersecretary of state for political affairs visited UAE as part of foreign trip

US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland at the US Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai. Photo: USA Expo 2020

US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland has described as vital her meeting with Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation.

She was in Abu Dhabi and Dubai during a visit to the UAE, part of a trip that will also take her to the UK, Israel and the West Bank.

Ms Nuland thanked the Emirates for its continued support to vulnerable Afghans at Emirates Humanitarian City.

She visited the US Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, and described it as awe-inspiring.

"[T]he American spirit is on full display at the USA Pavilion, including Thomas Jefferson’s Quran,” she wrote on Twitter.

The two-volume Quran once owned by the third US president was printed in London in 1764 and was bought by the Library of Congress shortly after Jefferson died in 1826.

It had been on display at the library since, and its appearance at the world’s fair is the first time it has left the premises.