President Pirc Musar on an official visit to the United Arab Emirates

At the invitation of the President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the Republic of Slovenia Nataša Pirc Musar is on an official visit to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. This is the first presidential visit to the UAE.

The two leaders assessed the cooperation between their countries in the political field as excellent, which is evidenced by the increasing number of meetings between high representatives of Slovenia and the UAE.

They touched upon pressing security and political issues and exchanged views on the horrific developments in Gaza. Their talks then focused on economic cooperation between the two countries. The UAE is Slovenia's second most important economic partner in the Gulf, and both countries are keen to further strengthen mutual cooperation. To this end, President Pirc Musar is accompanied by a business delegation comprising representatives of five companies and one institute, whose main purpose is to enhance the visibility and promote the most prominent technological achievements of Slovenian businesses in the capital of the UAE. As part of the visit, the Slovenian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of the United Arab Emirates signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a business council. President Pirc Musar and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan also discussed the war in the Middle East.

As part of her visit, the Slovenian President toured the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque and the Wahat Al Karama memorial to fallen soldiers, where she laid a wreath. The President also devoted her time to Slovenian companies operating in the UAE, visiting a 3,000 square metre air dome for sporting events installed by DUOL in Abu Dhabi and an autonomous driving simulator using Slovenian technology from AV Living Lab. Slovenia is also gaining visibility in the UAE thanks to the outstanding successes of Tadej Pogačar, who competes for UAE Team Emirates.

In the second part of her visit, the Slovenian President met with the Speaker of the Federal National Council, Mr Saqr Ghobash. As 50% of the members of the Federal National Council are women, President Pirc Musar stressed the importance of women's empowerment. Before concluding her visit, she also met with students at the Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy, where she gave a lecture on the challenges of small states in the contemporary international community.