UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan held talks in Berlin on Thursday with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in a state visit that adds a new chapter to a bilateral relationship spanning more than five decades.
The Emirati leader arrived in the German capital on Wednesday for his first visit to Germany since taking office in May 2022, and his eighth trip to the European country over the past two decades. The frequency of these visits underscores how deeply intertwined the two nations’ interests have become, well beyond the confines of formal diplomacy.
The two presidents reviewed the various avenues of cooperation and ways to develop them across all fields, particularly the economic and developmental ones, serving the mutual interests of both countries. Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed described the relationship as one of historic cooperation and friendship, noting that the strategic partnership formalized in 2004 rests on more than fifty years of continuous engagement dating back to 1972.
Economic ties were only part of the conversation. The two leaders also addressed pressing regional and international matters, chief among them efforts to advance a comprehensive and lasting peace process in the Middle East, which both sides described as the foundation for regional security and stability.
The visit comes as the UAE consolidates its position as Germany’s leading economic partner in the Gulf. Bilateral trade topped 13.56 billion euros in 2025, a year in which German imports from the UAE jumped by more than 50 percent. Roughly two thousand German companies now operate out of the UAE, using the country as a regional hub to reach markets across the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
For Berlin, the meeting reflects a broader push to deepen economic diplomacy with Gulf capitals as Europe works to diversify its energy and trade partnerships beyond traditional suppliers. For Abu Dhabi, it reaffirms a foreign policy built on cultivating close ties with major industrial powers, a strategy Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed has pursued steadily since assuming the presidency.
