WAM Dubai, Jun 27th, 2012 (WAM)--Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed has expressed his gratitude to the UAE leadership, government and people for hosting the Second International Counter-Piracy Conference, describing it as vital to Somalia's stability.

He added he hopes the conference will issue effective and implementable resolutions.

Addressing the conference, the Somali President reiterated his thanks to the UAE, which he said has been exerting great efforts to bail Somali people out of the quagmire, indicating that the UAE has been spending millions of dollars to restore the security and stability to Somalia through material and moral support.

He also thanked H. H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Foreign Minister for inviting him to attend the conference.

The Somali President underscored the need for concerted efforts to combat the piracy, which has spread in the Somali regional and international waters, indicating that the piracy hampers the navigation, double the cost of commercial ships and inflict damages to the Indian Ocean coastal countries and other world countries as well.

WAM/MN