Abu Dhabi
CNN
 — 

The primary-ever go to by a president of the United Arab Emirates to the White Home happened this week as Israel’s conflict in Gaza expanded to Lebanon. That conflict, nevertheless, was not on the prime of the agenda in talks with US officers.

US President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Nationwide Safety Adviser Jake Sullivan and UAE president Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed as an alternative prioritized their discussions round a set of technological and financial offers between each international locations centered round synthetic intelligence (AI) and the infrastructure wanted to develop the rising know-how.

“The UAE is a nation of trailblazers that’s at all times trying to the longer term – at all times making massive bets… In actual fact, it’s a cornerstone of our rising cooperation, in AI, in clear vitality, in area, in investing in infrastructure to attach areas,” Biden mentioned within the Oval Workplace on Monday alongside the UAE president. “At present we honor that legacy in carrying our relationship ahead because the UAE will grow to be a serious protection associate with america.”

Sheikh Mohammed responded that the UAE has “a agency and unwavering dedication to work with the USA for the sake of deepening the strategic partnership between our two nations”

The White Home mentioned the leaders charted “an formidable course” to guide international efforts to develop and broaden superior applied sciences.

The UAE, which normalized relations with Israel in 2020, is on the lookout for a “totally different structure” within the area based mostly on “larger communication, stability and, I’d say, long term prosperity,” Anwar Gargash, the UAE president’s diplomatic adviser instructed CNN’s Becky Anderson in an interview.

The UAE president’s go to to the US “was principally and nearly completely concerning the future,” Gargash mentioned. “It was concerning the economic system. It’s about know-how, and concerning the UAE bid to associate in what’s the know-how of the longer term…The AI element was “entrance and heart within the dialogue.”

The UAE is the second-largest Arab economic system, a prime oil exporter and main investor within the US economic system. One of many US’ closest allies within the Center East and a serious recipient of US arms, it hosts 5,000 US navy personnel. It now seeks to considerably improve the “360-degree relationship,” in keeping with Gargash, via an formidable plan to grow to be a regional know-how and AI hub because the US strikes to guard its nationwide safety and tech industries from Chinese language affect.

The UAE’s relationship with China had already value Abu Dhabi a multi-billion-dollar weapons take care of the US which might have seen the Gulf nation grow to be the primary Arab nation to obtain F-35 fighter jets, the crown jewel of the US Air Drive, as one official instructed CNN in 2021.

Abandoning superior Chinese language know-how

The deal, struck below the Donald Trump administration, was seen as a reward for the UAE’s normalization of relations with Israel in 2020. However the Biden administration repeatedly pushed the UAE to drop China’s Huawei Applied sciences Co. from its telecommunications community, and claimed that the know-how may pose a safety danger for its weapons programs.

Cautious of being disadvantaged of US know-how, the UAE has since deserted nearer cooperation with China within the subject of AI and semiconductors in favor of the US. Earlier this 12 months, Abu Dhabi’s state-backed know-how agency G42 introduced it had agreed to not interact with Chinese language corporations for superior know-how. The Monetary Instances reported earlier this 12 months that the corporate had off-loaded all investments in China as a pledge to its dedication for its “US companions.”

In Washington on Tuesday, Sheikh Mohamed met with the chief executives of chipmaker NVIDIA, asset supervisor Blackrock and Microsoft – three US corporations that not too long ago partnered with MGX, an Abu Dhabi-owned agency in search of to boost $100 billion to fund AI infrastructure, AI-enabled know-how, and semiconductors within the US and past.

Regardless of the deal with know-how, discussions with US officers did embody the conflict in Gaza and Lebanon, Gargash mentioned, including that de-escalation is the “foremost purpose.”

Past offering humanitarian support in Gaza, Abu Dhabi has up to now refused to contribute to the rebuilding of the territory with out a clear dedication by Israel for a two-state answer to the Israeli-Palestinian battle.

“It’s very sophisticated,” Gargash, who beforehand served because the UAE’s minister of state for overseas affairs, mentioned. “We predict that maximalist views are hindering the kind of consensus on a day after (the conflict). And we’re nervous with out a clear day after, any try actually on the ceasefire may seem futile.”

Nonetheless, he defended the UAE’s resolution to normalize relations with Israel and mentioned the settlement is a “element of a future Center East that’s based mostly on compromise” and one that would present a “totally different structure” for the area.

He mentioned the 2 pillars of the UAE’s coverage are stability and prosperity. “I feel we even have a accountability in the direction of regional stability and regional prosperity….You possibly can’t prosper alone. You need to prosper collectively.”