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Foreign Minister Smith's remarks at photo opportunity with the UAE Foreign Minister

E&OE transcript

Sydney

5 February 2010

We're obviously very pleased that Foreign Minister, His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, is in Australia. It's his first visit to Australia. It reflects the strength and the warmth of the relationship between Australia and the United Arab Emirates which is not just in trade, investment and commerce but also in security, strategic and defence. We have a very close defence cooperation arrangement and our Middle East headquarters are based in United Arab Emirates. The Sheikh and I both believe that we can get much more out of the relationship and we are very pleased with his visit.

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