Political Background Talk with H.H. Sheikh Abdallah Bin Zayid Al-Nahyan

Berlin, February 6, 2008

H.H. Sheikh Abdallah Bin Zayid Al-Nahyan, Foreign Minister of the United Arab Emirates, addressed members of the German Bundestag as well as representatives of the Federal Foreign Office, the Federal Ministry of the Interior and selected think tanks on the political situation in the Middle East.

H.H. Sheikh Abdallah Bin Zayid Al-Nahyan spoke on the Middle East peace process, the conflict surrounding the Iranian nuclear program as well as the situation in Lebanon. Furthermore, he elaborated on the security situation in Iraq and in Afghanistan. Moreover, the discussion focussed on the current developments in the energy sector.

This background talk with H.H. Sheikh Abdallah Bin Zayid Al-Nahyan continues the tradition of dialogue the Körber Foundation pursues with high-ranking speakers from the Middle East. This series includes, for instance, Political Breakfasts with H.R.H. Prince Saud Al-Faisal , Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Hassan Rohani , member of the Supreme National Security Council, the Expediency Council and member of the Assembly of Experts of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Saeed Jalili , Secretary General of the Supreme National Security Council of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Bergedorf Round Tables on “Stability in the Gulf Region” (Dubai, 2005), “Reforms in the Middle East” (Washington D.C., 2006) and the field trip of the Körber Network Foreign Policy to Iran as well as the 139th Bergedorf Round Table on “Iraq and its Neighbourhood: Strategies for Stability” (Damascus, February 2008).

Körber Foundation regularly invites a small circle of senior Berlin foreign policy decision-makers to its Background Discussions. As in the Bergedorf Round Table, the discussions take place confidentially and away from public attention.