At the reception of the 53rd UAE National Day, the UAE pointed out the importance of strengthening partnership with the Russian Federation

At a reception to celebrate the 53rd National Day of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on November 28, pointed to the importance of further strengthening the UAE's partnership with Russian Federation.

"The United Arab Emirates and the Russian Federation are determined to develop relations based on mutual respect and cooperation in political, economic, cultural and other fields," UAE Ambassador to Moscow Mohammed Ahmed Al Jaber said.

According to him, the highest level of bilateral cooperation is clearly evident in official meetings and visits, bilateral trade and economic exchange, which exceeded $11 billion in 2023, as well as cooperation in culture, tourism, air travel, which contributes to further expansion of contacts between the countries.

"We will continue to work to build cooperation and strengthen partnership with the Russian Federation and other countries to achieve common interests, development and prosperity. <...> I will add to this cooperation with our partners among the BRICS member countries within the framework of Russia's chairmanship," the UAE ambassador added.

At the event, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk pointed out that the common value is the friendly multidimensional relations between the UAE and Russia, the privileged nature of which is enshrined in the declaration on strategic partnership between the two countries signed in Moscow in 2018.

"The high level of bilateral interaction is evidenced by the trust established between Russian President Vladimir Putin and President of the United Arab Emirates Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan," he said.

According to Russian Education Minister Sergei Kravtsov, in two years' time there will be an opportunity to take Arabic in the Unified State Examination (USE).

In addition, he informed that the first Arabic language Olympiad was held in Russia this year. Kravtsov noted that he expected about a thousand schoolchildren to take part in it.

"That's when we summarized the results now, more than 6 thousand schoolchildren from all over the country took part in the Olympiad, six times more. This speaks about the popularity and the demand for the Arabic language, the study of the Arabic language, the Arabic culture! And we will continue this work," he announced.

The Russian Education Minister also spoke about the first big scientific conference, where more than 10 countries participated in the study of the Arabic language.

"This year we opened a large center for the study of the Russian language in Dubai. And today we see that the areas that are available for this center, they are not enough, because there is also a great interest, including from other countries, in the study of the Russian language. This exchange is very important for us," Kravtsov concluded.

On this day, Overchuk called the UAE one of Russia's main partners in the Middle East. He noted that Moscow and Abu Dhabi have almost no directions in which the two countries would not work together.

Earlier, on November 15, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov paid a working visit to Abu Dhabi and held talks with UAE Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The Ministers discussed topical issues of bilateral relations between Moscow and Abu Dhabi, reaffirming the intention to build up multifaceted mutually beneficial cooperation. In addition, the Foreign Ministers are confident that the UAE's accession to BRICS as a full member will strengthen the association.

Prior to that, on October 20, Putin met with Al Nahyan at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence near Moscow and said that Moscow and Abu Dhabi successfully cooperate in trade, mutual investments, tourist exchanges, humanitarian projects and education. The two countries are fully implementing their agreements.