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Baghdad: General Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, arrived in Baghdad yesterday on an unannounced visit to Iraq.
He was received at the airport by Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki and senior Iraqi officials.
Shaikh Mohammad was accompanied by a high-level delegation which includes Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Foreign Minister, and Abdullah Al Shehi, the newly-appointed Ambassador to Iraq.
He will hold talks with Iraqi officials on bilateral cooperation in various fields.
Shaikh Mohammad's visit followed a similar visit by Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abul Geit on Sunday, signalling an improvement in ties with Iraq.
Welcome ceremony
The welcome ceremony was shown on national television while the authorities closed access roads to the airport until after the dignitaries left the tightly guarded compound.
In July, the UAE announced its decision to write off all Iraqi debt, amounting to $4 billion (Dh14.6 billion).
The UAE withdrew its most senior diplomat - a charge d'affaires - from Baghdad in May 2006 after its diplomat Naji Rashid Al Nuaimi was kidnapped by militants and held for two weeks before being released.
On September 4, Al Shehi presented his credentials as the first Arab ambassador in Iraq in two years. He had been named in July.
Meanwhile, the Arab League has sent an envoy to head its mission in Baghdad for the first time in 20 months, an Iraqi Foreign Ministry official said yesterday.
Hani Khallaf, an Egyptian, took the post of the 22-member League's representative in Baghdad on Monday, Haider Al Barrak, a senior media official at the Foreign Ministry, said.
Return to the Arab fold
"His presence as a representative resident in Baghdad ... signifies the return of Arabs to Iraq, the return of Iraq to the Arab fold, and the reinforcement of Iraqi-Arab relations," Al Barrak said.
In January 2007, the previous Arab League ambassador quit in frustration over the worsening situation in Iraq, saying the League was unable to improve conditions for Iraqis.
But as violence in Iraq drops dramatically more than five years after the US-led invasion, fellow Arab nations have been taking steps to restore diplomatic ties.
-With inputs from WAM
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