Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan will travel to Saudi Arabia on Monday for a one-day official visit to resolve bilateral disputes and meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Ben Zayed heads a group of UAE cabinet ministers to Saudi Arabia to discuss a wide range of issues and decide on oil production policy within the framework of the OPEC Plus coalition.
OPEC Plus, meanwhile, failed to reach an agreement at its most recent meeting due to growing differences between Saudi Arabia and the UAE over oil production.
Last Wednesday, UAE Minister of Energy Soheil Al-Mazrouei denied the news of the settlement of the dispute with Saudi Arabia over the extension of the agreement on the supply of oil to world markets until 2022.
Last year, OPEC Plus agreed to reduce production by 10 million barrels per day last year to counter the collapse of the oil supply due to the corona epidemic, and now has reduced production to a current production ceiling of approximately 5.8 million.
During the visit of the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi to Saudi Arabia, the two sides are also scheduled to discuss developments in Yemen and ways to implement the Riyadh agreement between the parties involved in Yemen. The illegitimate and exiled government of Abdurrahman Mansour Hadi accuses the UAE government of sabotaging the implementation of the Riyadh agreement as well as any attempt to end the war in Yemen.
Informed sources predicted that a meeting of OPEC Plus member states would be held today (Sunday) to discuss oil production. Reports of the UAE’s withdrawal indicate an increase in oil production, but this has not yet been confirmed by any official source.
On the other hand, Saudi Arabia recently adopted new decisions on import policy, which will have a negative impact on the UAE economy if implemented. Accordingly, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi is scheduled to meet with his Saudi counterpart to discuss the impact of these policies on his country’s economy.
Saudi Arabia announced last week that it had made changes to regulations governing the import of goods from Arab Gulf states, which experts say would hurt the UAE the most if implemented.
Riyadh decided last February to suspend its government contracts with any foreign company headquartered outside Saudi Arabia from the beginning of 2024. Meanwhile, the UAE is the center of foreign companies in the region.