ABU DHABI: UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan met European Council President António Costa in Abu Dhabi on April 14, with the two leaders focusing on regional developments and their effect on regional and international peace and security. The talks addressed the impact of the crisis on maritime security, energy supplies and the global economy, placing the meeting at the center of both an urgent regional discussion and a broader review of relations between the United Arab Emirates and the European Union.
The meeting also covered Iranian attacks targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure in the UAE and other countries in the region, according to the UAE readout. Costa expressed the European Council’s solidarity with the UAE and other regional states in measures aimed at safeguarding security, stability and public safety. The exchange kept immediate security concerns at the forefront as Gulf states and European institutions respond to heightened tensions that have raised concerns over civilian safety, commercial shipping routes and the stability of energy supplies moving through the region.
Costa’s stop in Abu Dhabi formed part of a two-day Gulf tour that also included Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Before the trip, the European Council said Costa would discuss the latest developments in Iran and the wider region and exchange views with Gulf leaders on ways to ensure lasting regional and global security. That made the Abu Dhabi talks a key part of the European Union’s direct engagement with Gulf leaders at a time when regional events have widened the diplomatic agenda to include security, economic resilience and protection of critical infrastructure.
Security and partnership talks
Alongside the security discussions, Sheikh Mohamed and Costa reviewed cooperation between the UAE, the European Union and EU member states. The two sides reaffirmed support for negotiations on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement and a Strategic Partnership Agreement. The discussion showed that the relationship extends beyond crisis coordination and includes trade, investment and broader institutional ties. On the UAE side, the meeting was backed by senior officials from the Presidential Court, underscoring the official weight attached to both the visit and the wider relationship with Europe.
That economic and political track has been developing over the past year. EU trade authorities formally launched bilateral trade talks with the UAE in May 2025, while the European External Action Service and the UAE announced the start of negotiations on a Strategic Partnership Agreement in December 2025. Those talks are intended to deepen cooperation across trade and investment as well as fields including connectivity, energy, innovation, humanitarian assistance, green transition, digital policy and artificial intelligence, giving the Abu Dhabi meeting a wider policy context beyond the immediate regional crisis.
Broader Gulf engagement
The Abu Dhabi meeting also fit into a wider pattern of engagement between the European Union and Gulf partners on regional security and economic coordination. The first EU-GCC summit in Brussels in October 2024 set out a framework for closer cooperation on stability, trade and investment, and subsequent ministerial discussions highlighted shared concerns over maritime security, cyber cooperation and crisis response. Against that backdrop, Costa’s meeting with Sheikh Mohamed brought the EU’s top political leadership directly into the Gulf as regional tensions continued to shape diplomatic and economic calculations across multiple capitals.
Several senior UAE officials attended the meeting, including Sheikh Theyab bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Chairman of the Presidential Court for Development and Fallen Heroes’ Affairs, and Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Chairman of the Presidential Court for Special Affairs. Their presence reflected the institutional significance attached to the visit as the UAE and the European Council balanced immediate regional developments with longer-term cooperation. The Abu Dhabi meeting linked urgent security discussions with an expanding bilateral agenda between the UAE and the European Union. – By Content Syndication Services.