New Zealand will open an embassy next year in Abu Dhabi, federal capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Foreign Minister Murray McCully announced Monday, dpa reported.
McCully released a statement announcing New Zealand's second embassy in the Gulf region after Riyadh, Saudia Arabia, following talks in Abu Dhabi with UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan.
"The UAE and New Zealand share a diverse and growing bilateral relationship, and our commercial presence in the UAE is also developing strongly," McCully said.
He said the embassy would "provide a step forward" for New Zealand's diplomatic presence in the Middle East and facilitate trade in the Gulf region.
McCully said the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region will be one of the leading drivers of global economic growth in the coming decade and was already New Zealand's sixth-largest trading partner.
"New Zealand's exports to the region grew by 122 per cent between 2000 and 2009, with the UAE established as our second-largest market among the Gulf states," he said.
The Abu Dhabi embassy is scheduled to open in January.