Crown Prince Haakon Becomes First Norwegian Royal to Visit UAE

After a whirlwind visit to Qatar, Crown Prince Haakon stopped by the United Arab Emirates. Although Norway has had diplomatic relations with the UAE since 1994, this is the first a member of the royal family has made an official visit there. Haakon’s focus during this trip was on climate change and business relations.

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First thing on his list was to give a lecture at Zayed University. Traditionally an all-female institution, the university has an all-male chapter in Abu Dhabi.  Haakon’s speech was on Development and Dignity, which is part of his campaign on treating others with respect.

“What will you do in the next year to increase someone’s dignity?” he asked the assembled students.

“Why should we care about people we don’t know?” he continued. “Why should it make a difference to us what happens to them? The answer is dignity, we need to be able to see other people and share with them.”

Some of the students were so inspired by the Crown Prince that they decided to help others too.

“He is a royal prince who has travelled the world to help others, so we can do the same,”  Maitha Abdulrahman told The National . “We should spend less money on a day-to-day basis.”

Next for Haakon, he attended a seminar called “Norway as a Technology Partner in the Maritime Oil and Gas Sector.” Both Norway and the UAE are major oil exporters, and having the Crown Prince visiting the country is meant to cement ties between them.

“We come gardening with the two ambitions: further expand relations between UAE and Norway by engaging in a broad dialogue, and rising both political issues and stronger commercial ties,” Haakon said in a speech at the seminar.

He also had a chance to be briefed on the UAE’s Masdar Project, which aims to be the world’s first city that is entirely eco-friendly. It also aims to be  center for research and development on renewable energy and sustainable technology.

Also on his agenda for Wednesday was to have lunch with some of Abu Dhabi’s royals. The Crown Prince met with Sheikh Hamdan al-Zayed al-Nahyan and discussed with him the focus of his official visit. Haakon also told reporters he hoped for closer ties between his country and UAE.

“The political dialogue between our two countries has been increasing steadily during the last few years since Norway opened its embassy here in 1994. The UAE is an important partner for Norway, in particular as we have common interests in regional issues. I am pleased to hear that the UAE has now started the process of opening an embassy in Oslo.”

Sources: Kongehuset.no, The National, WAM