New Zealand is to establish an embassy in the United Arab Emirates.Foreign Minister Murray McCully said the embassy would be in the capital Abu Dhabi where he today met his UAE counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan."The UAE and New Zealand
New Zealand is to establish an embassy in the United Arab Emirates.
Foreign Minister Murray McCully said the embassy would be in the capital Abu Dhabi where he today met his UAE counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan.
"The UAE and New Zealand share a diverse and growing bilateral relationship, and our commercial presence in the UAE is also developing strongly," Mr McCully said.
"Opening an embassy in Abu Dhabi will provide a step forward for New Zealand's diplomatic presence in the Middle East, and at the same time it will help facilitate further opportunities for New Zealand businesses in the Gulf region."
Mr McCully said The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region would be one of the leading drivers of global economic growth in the coming decade.
"The GCC is already our sixth-largest trading partner. New Zealand's exports to the region grew by 122 per cent between 2000 and 2009, with the UAE established as our second-largest market among the Gulf states.
"Services exports, while harder to quantify, have also grown substantially, particularly in the education and professional services fields, and over 7000 students from the Gulf are now studying in New Zealand."
The embassy, which is due to open in January, will be New Zealand's second in the Gulf region, with one in Riyadh.
