Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa made his first visit Sunday to the United Arab Emirates, whose leaders have been circumspect about the new leadership in Damascus in the four months since the fall of former President Bashar Assad in a lightning rebel offensive.

The state-run Emirates News Agency, or WAM, reported that the UAE’s president, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, met with Sharaa in Abu Dhabi and “wished him success in leading Syria through the coming period and in fulfilling the Syrian people’s hopes for development, security, and stability.”

The statement said the “two leaders discussed a number of issues of mutual interest and exchanged views on regional and international developments.”