July 15 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, concluding his first trip to the Middle East, said the Obama administration favors a strong dollar and expressed confidence it will stay the world’s main reserve currency.

“It is the policy of the United States and it will remain the policy of the United States to remain committed to a strong dollar,” Geithner said today in an interview with Al-Arabiya television. “My view, and this is the view I heard expressed here,” is that the dollar “will remain the principal reserve currency,” he said.

Geithner is finishing up his third stop on a four-city trip to Europe and the Middle East. He held talks with officials today in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, after spending a day in London and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to start this week.

Earlier today, U.A.E. Central Bank Governor Sultan bin Nasser al-Suwaidi said he is reassured on the dollar by Geithner’s visit to the region.

“It’s very important to give realistic committal messages to the international markets,” Al-Suwaidi said today in an interview in Abu Dhabi. “I would say he’s done that.”

“Yes,” the central bank is reassured, he added.

In meetings with the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and the Abu Dhabi Investment Council, two sovereign wealth funds, Geithner fielded questions about the U.S. policies on budget deficits, financial regulation and foreign investment. Geithner said the U.S. wants to remain an attraction for international investment, according to a Treasury official who briefed reporters.

U.S. Rescue Plans

In the interview, Geithner said U.A.E. authorities aren’t concerned about the Obama administration’s approach to fixing the financial crisis and pulling the economy out of the recession. The rescues efforts will contribute to a swelling in the U.S. budget gap this year to a projected $1.8 trillion.

“Although not surprising to me, I found really quite substantial confidence in the broad strategy of this administration in trying to address the causes of this crisis and put us on a foundation to stable recovery,” the Treasury secretary said.

Geithner reiterated that once the crisis subsides, the government will exercise fiscal restraint.

“Of course we are committed to making sure that as we emerge from this crisis -- once we are confident that we have repaired the damage -- we are committed to bringing our budget deficits down to a sustainable level,” Geithner said.

Energy Markets

Geithner said he discussed energy markets privately with officials in the region, while declining to comment specifically about oil prices in the interview.

“We all have an interest today in trying to make sure that we’re reinforcing these tentative signs of recovery we’re seeing across the world economy,” Geithner said. “It’s very important to the region, very important to the United States, the countries around the world, we need to make sure we pull the world economy out of this crisis and put it on a path of sustainable growth.”

Geithner’s trip concludes tomorrow with talks in Paris with French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde and other officials.

To contact the reporters on this story: Rebecca Christie in Washington at Rchristie4@bloomberg.net;

Last Updated: July 15, 2009 11:19 EDT