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Abu Dhabi: The UAE pledged yesterday to help shield the global financial system from the liquidity crunch it currently faces, the country's top diplomat said.
Foreign Minister Shaikh Abdulllah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan said: "The UAE will employ all means to protect the international community from the financial crisis, be it through bilateral cooperation with the country's friends and allies or through international financial institutions."
Shaikh Abdullah was answering a question asked by a Gulf News reporter, about the UAE's role in the international arena, during a joint press conference with his German counterpart, Frank Walter Steinmeier held in Abu Dhabi yesterday.
Shaikh Abdullah stressed the UAE is emerging as an important financial contributor to the world financial system.
"We are part of a global system and this entails obligations ... We are also interested that the world witnesses auspicious growth to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)," he said.
Shaikh Abdullah urged the international community to be very diligent in the decision-making process and to use its regulatory authority wisely while intervening in the markets to reduce the impact of the credit crisis.
"All should cooperate diligently to get by without panic and fears being widespread in the market now," Shaikh Abdullah said.
He added: "We in the UAE highly appreciate cooperation with our allies in the G8 and the Group of 20 and fully support the role Saudi Arabia will play in the next meeting, on 'means to contain a deepening financial crisis before it triggers a global recession'.
Underscoring a dramatic shift in global financial influence toward rising powers, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson called for a special meeting of the Group of 20 nations to brainstorm crisis remedies.
The meeting on Saturday in Washington will bring together the deeply troubled US and European economies with the cash-rich stars of the developing world, such as China, Brazil and Saudi Arabia. The G-20 produces 90 per cent of world economic output.
Shaikh Abdullah said the GCC countries tasked King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia to convey "our views about the tools that will be used to attack the credit crunch so that the world may not face a similar crisis".
Steinmeier agreed that coordination and more talks within the framework of the EU and the GCC will be beneficial to contain the crisis.
"Tools to contain the fin-ancial crisis should be globally accepted and be discussed not only by the G8 but also by the Group of 20 and other forums," the envoy said.
Shaikh Abdullah said he discussed with his German counterpart bilateral relations and regional issues including the Middle East peace process, the situation in Afghanistan and means to revive the Friends of Pakistan group.
The ministers pledged development aid as a means of stabilising the restive, nuclear-armed South Asian country.
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