DIPLOMACY | 27.05.2010

Merkel wraps up Gulf tour with call for Germany to engage region

Merkel toured the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha

At the conclusion of her four-day trip to the Gulf States, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said her country and Europe must be sure not to miss out on business opportunities in the fast-growing region.

While in Qatar on the last day of her tour of the Gulf, Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday said Germany should do more to build business ties with the region, insisting that Asian nations were doing better at developing relations with the Gulf's power players.

"We are definitely not moving fast enough," she said. "We have to exert ourselves."

Merkel said that, in an effort to rival the Asian competition, she would push for the introduction of a free trade agreement with Gulf States when she meets with EU leaders at a bloc summit in June.

"Along with other heads of state and government, I will exert myself to ensure that the free trade agreement is finally wrapped up," she said.

Merkel also said Europe had to work more closely with the Gulf States to foster a stronger mutual understanding of each other's cultures.

"We in Europe sometimes forget the fact that over many centuries, the Arab world was far ahead of us in science and the arts," she told an audience in the Museum of Islamic Art in the Qatari capital, Doha. "We need respect for differing perceptions about values."

Collaboration the key

Merkel was earlier in the United Arab Emirates

She said intensified cooperation would also help in finding solutions to international conflicts such as those in Afghanistan, Iraq and Yemen, which she singled out as in need of particular attention.

"We agree that the stability of Yemen is also important for regional stability, and is essential in the fight against international terrorism," she said.

Merkel was in Qatar on the last day of a four-day tour through the region, also taking her to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. She has been accompanied by a large delegation of German business leaders eager to grow their ties with the region.

Earlier, in Saudi Arabia, Merkel addressed Gulf concerns over the ongoing economic crisis in the eurozone, saying Germany would push "with all our strength" for a strong euro, reiterating that her country had been a major beneficiary of the single currency.

"I want to (make) a very clear statement," she told a gathering of German and Saudi businessmen in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah, "Germany as the largest exporting nation, the largest economy in the European Union, has strongly benefited from the euro in the past … therefore, we will work with all our strength for a strong euro."

dfm/dpa/AFP

Editor: Rob Turner

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