Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Presidential Court, called on the region to come together to ensure peace and prosperity, at the Arab League summit in Jeddah on Friday.
Sheikh Mansour stressed the need for co-operation between Arab nations to help drive development, state news agency Wam reported.
He congratulated Syria on its return to the Arab League, following a 12-year absence, and expressed his hope it would emerge from its current difficulties to achieve stability.
Sheikh Mansour, who has now left Jeddah after taking part in the summit, said that despite challenges facing the region, there was cause to be hopeful of resolutions to local conflicts.
He called on Sudan to overcome its political and humanitarian crisis through dialogue and compromise, thanking Saudi Arabia for its role in bringing about talks to help end the deadlock.
Sheikh Mansour appealed to Arab countries to bolster ties and strengthen economic and developmental collaborations.
He thanked Saudi Arabia's King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for their hospitality and hosting of the gathering and offered his appreciation to Algeria for its work presiding over previous summits and commended the Secretariat General of the Arab League for its preparations.
Sheikh Mansour met a number of regional and international leaders in Jeddah, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Wam earlier reported that Sheikh Mansour and his delegation were greeted by Prince Badr bin Sultan, deputy governor of Makkah, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Secretary General of the Arab League, and several senior officials on arrival in Saudi Arabia.
Sheikh Mansour held talks with Syrian President Bashar Al Assad on the sidelines of the summit.
They reviewed the strong ties between their nations, Wam reported.
They also touched on the agenda of the key summit, as well as a number of issues of mutual interest.
Sheikh Mansour conveyed the greetings of President Sheikh Mohamed to Mr Al Assad and expressed his wish for peace and stability in Syria.
The Syrian leader made clear his gratitude to Sheikh Mohamed for the UAE's support of Syria and its role in facilitating its return to the Arab League.
The meeting was attended by accompanying delegations from both the UAE and Syria.
Sheikh Mansour is attending the summit on behalf of President Sheikh Mohamed. He leads a delegation of senior UAE officials.
Included in the delegation are Ali Al Shamsi, Deputy Secretary General of the Supreme National Security Council, Abdulla bin Touq, Minister of Economy, Sheikh Shakhbout bin Nahyan, Minister of State, Sarah Al Amiri, Minister of State for Public Education and Future Technology, Khalifa Al Marar, Minister of State, Sheikh Nahyan bin Saif, UAE ambassador to Saudi Arabia, and Maryam Al Kaabi, UAE Ambassador to Egypt.
The summit gathered together representatives of 22 Arab League member states for annual talks.
They were expected to pass 32 draft resolutions as part of the Arab action plan for 2023, which will lay out regional priorities and how they plan to tackle them over the coming year.
Studying addiction
This month, Dubai Medical College launched the Middle East’s first master's programme in addiction science.
Together with the Erada Centre for Treatment and Rehabilitation, the college offers a two-year master’s course as well as a one-year diploma in the same subject.
The move was announced earlier this year and is part of a new drive to combat drug abuse and increase the region’s capacity for treating drug addiction.
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
The President's Cake
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Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
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Pakistan T20 series squad
Sarfraz Ahmed (captain), Fakhar Zaman, Ahmed Shahzad, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Mohammed Hafeez, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Mohammed Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Amir Yamin, Mohammed Amir (subject to fitness clearance), Rumman Raees, Usman Shinwari, Umar Amin
HIV on the rise in the region
A 2019 United Nations special analysis on Aids reveals 37 per cent of new HIV infections in the Mena region are from people injecting drugs.
New HIV infections have also risen by 29 per cent in western Europe and Asia, and by 7 per cent in Latin America, but declined elsewhere.
Egypt has shown the highest increase in recorded cases of HIV since 2010, up by 196 per cent.
Access to HIV testing, treatment and care in the region is well below the global average.
Few statistics have been published on the number of cases in the UAE, although a UNAIDS report said 1.5 per cent of the prison population has the virus.
THE SPECS
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U19 WORLD CUP, WEST INDIES
UAE group fixtures (all in St Kitts)
Saturday 15 January: v Canada
Thursday 20 January: v England
Saturday 22 January: v Bangladesh
UAE squad
Alishan Sharafu (captain), Shival Bawa, Jash Giyanani, Sailles Jaishankar, Nilansh Keswani, Aayan Khan, Punya Mehra, Ali Naseer, Ronak Panoly, Dhruv Parashar, Vinayak Raghavan, Soorya Sathish, Aryansh Sharma, Adithya Shetty, Kai Smith
Zayed%20Centre%20for%20Research
%3Cp%3EThe%20Zayed%20Centre%20for%20Research%20is%20a%20partnership%20between%20Great%20Ormond%20Street%20Hospital%2C%20University%20College%20London%20and%20Great%20Ormond%20Street%20Hospital%20Children%E2%80%99s%20Charity%20and%20was%20made%20possible%20thanks%20to%20a%20generous%20%C2%A360%20million%20gift%20in%202014%20from%20Sheikha%20Fatima%20bint%20Mubarak%2C%20Chairwoman%20of%20the%20General%20Women's%20Union%2C%20President%20of%20the%20Supreme%20Council%20for%20Motherhood%20and%20Childhood%2C%20and%20Supreme%20Chairwoman%20of%20the%20Family%20Development%20Foundation.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs
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Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
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The Birkin bag is made by Hermès.
It is named after actress and singer Jane Birkin
Noone from Hermès will go on record to say how much a new Birkin costs, how long one would have to wait to get one, and how many bags are actually made each year.
