An evident manifestation of brotherhood in the Persian Gulf is manifested in the recent trip of UAE Vice President Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al-Nahyan to Saudi Arabia’s old jewel, the AlUla region, where he shared warm hugs and embraced Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, yet another timeless substantiation of ties borne between these Arabian Peninsula powerhouses.
It was a meeting within the Crown Prince’s winter camp that echoed Arab tradition in word and deed, as Bader Al-Asaker, director of the Crown Prince’s Private Office, posted an interesting photograph of the encounter on his x platform account to provide rare glimpses of the personal dynamics within the Persian Gulf leadership meetings.
The stunning desert mountains of AlUla framed what observers dubbed an act of heartfelt discussion between the two leaders, reflecting the special relationship which has characterized their countries and their histories. The importance of this meeting cannot be exaggerated as it exemplifies the continuous striving towards personal ties between the Persian Gulf leaders, which is essential to diplomacy within the region.
Critically, the location and timing of this visit needs careful consideration as it occurred just after the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to the same place accompanied by the Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani. This sequence of high-level meetings is also an opportunity to highlight AlUla’s ever-increasing image as a matter of choice meeting venue for policy-making discussions at the regional level.
Hearing from regional experts, the selection of AlUla as the meeting site is overwhelmingly laden with deep symbolic implication. The former, an important trading post on some of the historic routes, is now a nexus between the old ways and the exciting fates that the countries themselves and their populations dream of. Exhibition of thoughts, outside of the methodological halls of the formal court, lost within the context of the winter camp scene, other than the formal palace halls, which allowed for honest and open dialogue to take place.
The meeting between Sheikh Mansour and Prince Mohammed addressed various areas of relations between both the countries, as a gesture of an intent of commitment of both sides for the development of their partnership in various spheres. Discussion confirmed the perception that it is worth defending in both countries, namely, regional stability and economic success”.
This session is grounded in the collaborative work that has already led UAE Saudi Arabia to collaborate on many projects, spanning economic cooperation to cultural exchange between the two nations. The intrapsychic interaction among leaders can, on the one hand, lead to actual benefits for people in the two countries, on the other hand, can facilitate the implementation of similar policies for the two countries through the joint support of projects.
The significance of such meetings extends beyond formal diplomacy. They represent the continuation of a Persian Gulf tradition where leadership connections are maintained through personal visits and informal discussions, a practice that has proven effective in maintaining regional harmony and advancing mutual interests.
In this meeting, this effort is being focused to solidify further collaboration between the UAE and Saudi Arabia. The two Countries are pursuing, at a large scale, very ambitious development projects-Vision 2030 for Saudi Arabia and the future plans of the UAE Government-and their shared agenda and long-standing leadership alignment gives them the capacity to collectively tackle regional problems in a coordinated and unified manner.
The AlUla event is a deep indication of the extent to which the classical diplomatic approach has been applicable in a world that understands the way of the Arabs living in the development of the Persian Gulf area. Since these countries are getting on the path of change and hence moving to new levels of how they think, therefore, all such personal meetings between their leaders are still quite necessary to keep the ball rolling and to ensure that progress along with cooperation is not neglected in the future.
