DUBAI, Sept 22, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al
Nahyan is due Monday in Washington for a first official visit at a time of
soaring tensions in the Middle East, seeking to highlight economic and
technological cooperation.

Presidential advisor Anwar Gargash said the Emiratis, who want to reorient
their economy away from oil and towards new technologies such as AI, were
thinking "economy first, prosperity first" in their "strategic relationship"
with the United States.

With his upcoming trip, Sheikh Mohamed will become the first sitting
president of the oil-rich Gulf monarchy to make an official visit to
Washington.

He is scheduled to meet with US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala
Harris, who is running to succeed Biden, the White House said.

US officials said the top agenda items were the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and
the conflict in Sudan, where the UAE has been accused of backing one of the
warring parties -- a charge it denies.

Speaking to journalists this week, Gargash said that without ignoring "things
happening in Gaza or things happening in other areas", the president's visit
will focus on deepening business and technological ties.

The "UAE is trying to move more along an economic and technological view,
with the full realisation that we are in the fall (season) of the hydrocarbon
age", the adviser said.

He said the UAE's ties with the United States were "our most important
strategic relationship", even as "sometimes people like to talk about some
tensions in the relationship".

The UAE, expected to be a key contributor to the Gaza Strip's post-war
reconstruction, also has close ties with Russia and refused to condemn the
2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Sheikh Mohamed's trip follows a sharp escalation of hostilities between
Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah that raised fears of a widening
Middle East war.

The UAE, a federation of sheikhdoms, is one of a handful of Arab states to
recognise Israel and enjoys growing clout in the Middle East owing to its oil
wealth, business environment and reputation for stability.

It also neighbours oil giant Saudi Arabia, which the US has been pressing to
forge relations with Israel in the hope of calming a region pushed to the
edge by the Israel-Hamas war.

Sheikh Mohamed, who became president in May 2022 after several years of de
facto rule, has strong relations with China and India and has visited both
countries this year.

In April, Microsoft announced a $1.5 billion investment in UAE artificial
intelligence firm G42, as Abu Dhabi simultaneously shifted away from Chinese
partnerships in AI.

"Why are we betting on technology? If we believe that hydrocarbon is on the
way out, slowly but surely, then we have to replace the revenue stream
through something else," Gargash said.

He added: "A lot of things are in the pipeline. We're laying a map... and we
need to partner with you (US) in order for us to achieve these things."