German foreign ministry praises UAE's 'innovative' diplomatic approach

Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of State and the UAE’s Special Envoy to Germany, held a virtual meeting with Berlin officials at the weekend

Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of State and the UAE's Special Envoy to Germany, spoke with German ministers via video on Saturday. Adnoc

Germany’s foreign ministry has praised the innovative way the UAE has conducted international diplomacy during the coronavirus pandemic.

On Saturday, Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of State and the UAE’s Special Envoy to Germany, spoke with German politicians and officials via video link.

In a tweet on Sunday, Christian Buck, director for the Mena region at Germany’s Foreign Ministry, welcomed the way the UAE was helping to progress virtual diplomacy.

"This is taking virtual diplomacy to a whole new level: UAE Minister of State Dr Sultan Al Jaber visiting Berlin and discussing a wide range of issues with key actors in the German government and parliament, including his counterpart Minister of State Niels Annen," he said.

As well as enhancing UAE-Germany co-operation during the "virtual visit" to Berlin, ministers discussed the global response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The officials also discussed the Gulf, the Sahel region and Libya.

Bundestag members Ralph Brinkhaus, Thomas Oppermann, Alexander Radwan, Bijan Djir-Sarai and its foreign policy spokesman Nils Schmid joined the meeting.

Germany is the UAE’s largest European trading partner and accounts for almost 22 per cent of all trade with the Arab world, figures from last year showed.

Non-oil trade between the UAE and Germany increased 60 per cent from 2010 to 2017, reaching $13.45 billion (Dh49.4bn) by the end of that period, government data showed.

Several of Germany's biggest companies have a presence in the UAE, including manufacturing conglomerate Siemens, chemicals company BASF and oil and gas producer Wintershall.