Oct 01, 2026 16:46 pm IST

Opinion | Are Saudi Arabia And UAE Reuniting Again After 10 Years?

On Tuesday, the UAE's Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Presidential Court, Mansour bin Zayed, met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Aditi Bhaduri Aditi Bhaduri Columnist

Aditi Bhaduri Columnist

Are we witnessing a rapprochement between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)?

It certainly seems so. On Tuesday, the UAE's Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Presidential Court, Mansour bin Zayed, met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He was accompanied by a high-level delegation, which included Prince Khalid bin Salman, the Saudi Minister of Defence, Ali Al Shamsi, Secretary General of the Supreme Council for National Security; Ali Al Neyadi, Chairman of the National Emergency, Crisis and Disaster Management Authority and others.

The UAE's main national daily, The National, described the meeting thus: "The visit reflects the deep and enduring partnership between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, which have maintained close political, economic and security co-operation. High-level exchanges between the two countries are a regular feature of Gulf diplomacy, with senior officials frequently travelling between the two capitals to co-ordinate positions on matters of shared concern."

It would seem as if the two have been best-friends-forever; there was no allusion to the strain that the bilateral relationship had come under due to divergent views on a range of issues, including the one plaguing the Saudis currently the most: Yemen.

Both Saudi Arabia and the UAE had once been partners in Yemen as they intervened to prop up the government of President Abdur Hadi Mansour against the Iran-backed Houthis. Over the years, however, both Gulf powers came to back different factions in Yemen, with the Saudis backing the Yemen government, and the UAE supporting the Southern Transitional Council........

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