He expressed his condolences to Trudeau on the victims of the Ukrainian plane crash He discussed with Merkel ways to enhance bilateral relations DUBAI: Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Zayed, held a telephone call on Wednesday with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau regarding developments in the Middle East. “I received a phone call from the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau. We exchanged views on a number of issues of mutual interest as well as the most important regional developments,” he tweeted on his official Twitter account. During the call, Mohammed bin Zayed and Trudeau discussed ways to strengthen the strong friendship between the UAE and Canada to serve the interests of the two friendly countries. “They emphasized the importance of pursuing diplomatic approach and dialogue to address regional issues” and they “exchanged views on the latest regional and global developments of mutual interest, particularly the current events in the Middle East, and means to maintain the security, stability and peace of the region and work to contain tension and avoid escalation,” a statement issued by the state-run WAM said. During the call, Mohammed bin Zayed also expressed his condolences to Trudeau on the Canadian victims of the Ukrainian plane crash, and the Canadian premier thanked him for his kind feelings. Iran said its military mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian plane on Jan. 8, killing all 176 aboard, saying air defenses were fired in error while on alert in the tense aftermath of Iranian missile strikes on US targets in Iraq, Reuters reported Earlier on Wednesday, the crown prince, who is also deputy Commander-in-Chief of the UAE’s armed forces, also received a phone call from German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed and Merkel discussed ways to enhance bilateral relations in the best interest of the UAE and Germany. “I received a phone call from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, during which we discussed a number of issues of mutual interest, in particular some current developments and the most appropriate ways of dealing with them,” he tweeted. They also reviewed the latest regional and international developments and stressed the need to put more efforts into reinforcing security and stability in the region.