UAE is pursuing active, balanced and moderate foreign policy: Khalifa

President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan said the active foreign policy stands today as one of significant achievements of theUAE.

"This sound policy, which is based on a set of balanced and moderate principles the UAE has been pursuing since its birth towards the Arab and international issues, has earned our country respect and appreciation in various international forums," the President said as he received UAE ambassadors abroad and representatives at regional and international organisations as well as top army, police and security commanders and officers who called on him on Monday evening at Al Rawdha Palace to offer best wishes on the advent of the holy month of Ramadan.

Present at the meeting were General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Ruler's Representative in the Western Region as well as a number of Sheikhs, ministers and senior officials.

Sheikh Khalifa said ambassadors have a crucial role to assume in bolstering UAE's ties with sisterly and friendly countries and highlighting its stature at international gatherings.
 
He called on them to act as honourable role model and as a bright mirror for achievements the UAE has made in all walks of life.

Ambassadors, he indicated, are demanded to maintain positive interaction and seek qualitative development in "our relations with other countries of the world and this he continued would put additional burden on them and increase their responsibilities to deepen already existing bonds and open up new channels of communications for creating new opportunities of joint cooperation.

Sheikh Khalifa also urged the envoys to learn from the experiments of their host countries and interact positively with them so to draw lessons and act as bridges of communications with other human cultures and introduce, at the same time, the culture and heritage of the UAE to peoples of their host countries. Moreover, the President called them to innovate creative methods and initiatives to interact with other people of the world, foster human and cultural cooperation and promote the culture of tolerance and moderation.

Sheikh Khalifa stressed the vital importance of the role diplomatic missions play in assisting and serving UAE citizens abroad, reminding them that the UAE citizen is the real asset and target of any development and is given the top priority in development plans and programmes.

Sheikh Khalifa wished the diplomatic community every success in their mission to serve their homeland.

For their part, the ambassadors and representatives at regional and international organisations expressed their delight at meeting the President, affirming that the annual gathering provides them with a renewed catalyst and energy to exert more efforts to serve the country and its citizens in the countries they work in.

Sheikh Khalifa hosted an iftar banquet in honour of his guests.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.