WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama welcomed Abu Dhabi crown prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahayan to the White House Tuesday for talks likely to focus on turmoil in Libya, Syria and unrest in the wider Middle East.
The meeting, in the Oval Office, was closed to journalists and the two leaders made no public remarks, though photographers were allowed into the room for a few seconds to see the crown prince and the president talking quietly.
When it announced the meeting would take place last week, the White House said that the talks would focus on the "strong ties between the United States and the United Arab Emirates and our common strategic interests in the region."
The UAE, a key US strategic and export partner, and Qatar were the only Arab states to send warplanes for operations over Libya, where strongman Moamer Kadhafi's forces are battling Western-backed rebels.
The emir of Qatar was also granted a meeting with Obama in the Oval Office this month.
Obama has been discussing the turmoil throughout the Middle East and the Arab world a dominant US foreign policy interest in all his recent talks and telephone calls with regional leaders.
Washington was concerned when tense relations Gulf Arab states and Iran were exacerbated after the mid-March intervention of Gulf security forces, including a contingent from the UAE, in Sunni-ruled Bahrain where security forces crushed a Shiite-led pro-democracy uprising.
The intervention sparked a war of words between various Gulf Arab states and their neighbour Iran, a long-time foe of the United States.
Tuesday's meeting also took place as the United States mulls targeted sanctions against Syria after the Baathist government in Damascus over a crackdown on opposition protestors.
According to the State Department, the UAE is the single largest US export market in the Middle East and hosts more American naval ships than any port outside the United States.
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