President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will visit the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Feb. 14-15 as part of the efforts to revive Turkey’s relations with former archrival Abu Dhabi, according to a statement by the Presidential Communications Directorate on Thursday.
In November, Erdoğan hosted Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (MBZ), as Turkey and the UAE seek to repair their relations and increase economic cooperation. The visit by the crown prince, seen as the de facto leader and the force behind the UAE’s foreign policy posture, was his first official trip to Turkey since 2012 and the highest-level visit by an Emirati official since relations hit a low as the countries have battled for regional influence and backed opposing sides in conflicts.
Turkish officials described MBZ's visit as the "beginning of a new era" following years of hostility after Ankara blamed the UAE for financing the 2016 coup plotters in Turkey and undermining Turkish interests in Libya. The UAE media also said that the visit will carry the relations between Turkey and Arab countries into a new period.
During the visit, Turkey and the UAE signed bilateral cooperation agreements in numerous fields, including trade, energy and the environment. The UAE also allocated a $10 billion (TL 135.63 billion) fund to invest in Turkey.
