The UAE will be the first Arab country to send an ambassador to Nato, the Polish foreign minister said yesterday.
Speaking after talks in Warsaw with Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Radoslaw Sikorski described the UAE's efforts to cement ties with the 28-nation trans-Atlantic alliance as a landmark move.
The UAE already belongs to Nato's Istanbul Co-operation Initiative, launched at an alliance summit in the Turkish city in 2004 with the aim of bolstering bilateral security co-operation with countries in the Middle East.
The UAE and Qatar are the only Arab nations taking part in the Nato-led military campaign to protect civilians from Muammar Qaddafi's regime in Libya, and the UAE will host the next meeting of the International Contact Group, which includes all the countries participating in the Libya operation.
"We're very delighted to have Poland as part of the Contact Group," Sheikh Abdullah said after yesterday's talks.
The Polish government has said that boosting ties with the Middle East will form a crucial plank of its European Union presidency in the second half of this year.
* With agencies