LONDON: Britain’s leader Keir Starmer makes his first trip to the Gulf as prime minister from Sunday, Downing Street announced.
“There is huge untapped potential in this region, which is why, while here, I will be making the case to accelerate progress on the Gulf Cooperation Council Free Trade Agreement,” Starmer said in a statement released Saturday.
The meetings will also aim to “deepen our research and development collaboration” and partner on projects in areas including defense and artificial intelligence, Starmer added.
The regional tour will end on Tuesday with Starmer meeting President Nikos Christodoulides in Nicosia, the first bilateral talks between the leaders of Britain and Cyprus in over five decades.
Starmer is also due to address British troops stationed in Cyprus.
UK leader Starmer heads to Gulf to talk trade, Middle East
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UK leader Starmer heads to Gulf to talk trade, Middle East
- Discussing regional conflicts is expected to be “high up the agenda,” including the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, the fragile ceasefire in Lebanon and renewed unrest in Syria
Somali president visits city claimed by breakaway region
MOGADISHU: Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on Friday visited a provincial capital claimed by the breakaway region of Somaliland -- the first visit there by a sitting president in over 40 years.
The visit to Las Anod, the administrative capital of the Sool region, comes amid heightened diplomatic tensions in the Horn of Africa after Israel officially recognised Somaliland, drawing strong opposition from Mogadishu.
Mohamud was attending the inauguration of the president of the newly created Northeast State, which became Somalia's sixth federal state in August.
It was the first visit by a Somali president since 1984.
Somalia is a federation of semi-autonomous states, some of which have fraught relations with the central government in Mogadishu.
The Northeast State comprises the regions of Sool, Sanaag and Cayn, all territories Somaliland claims as integral to its borders.
Somaliland had controlled Las Anod since 2007 but was forced to withdraw in 2023 after violent clashes with Somali forces and pro-Mogadishu militias left scores dead.
Mohamud's visit "is a symbol of strengthening the unity and efforts of the federal government to enforce the territorial unity of the Somali country and its people", the Somali president's office said.
