UAE, France, and a new chapter in strategic partnership
UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan met Thursday with French President Emmanuel Macron during a visit to France to strengthen ties between the two countries.
“The visit is an opportunity for the two leaders to strengthen and expand the long-term strategic partnership between the UAE and France and to enhance bilateral cooperation across all sectors,” the official WAM news agency reported Thursday.
Strengthen Ties
According to AFP, the two leaders last met in July 2022 to sign major agreements on space, education, energy and climate change. It was the first foreign visit by the UAE’s ruler since he was appointed president, following the death of the late UAE president Sheikh Khalifa in May of that year.
In April, the French Presidency awarded a high-level medal to the Ruler of Sharjah, Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohamed Al Qasimi. The Agency said in an earlier report that this was in recognition of Sheik Sultan’s scientific, cultural and literary contributions and his efforts to strengthen relations between the two countries. Last March, Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, President of the COP28 climate summit in the United Arab Emirates, met with Macron in Paris to discuss climate policies. The month before, Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna met with the Foreign Minister of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
It added that it was Macron’s last visit to the UAE after the death of former President Sheik Khalifa.
Broader Partnership
According to Reuters, the UAE and France continue to strengthen their strategic partnership based on mutual respect and shared visions on regional and global issues. The leaders of both countries, HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and French President Emmanuel Macron, played a crucial role in strengthening bilateral relations, and this partnership has yielded fruitful results across the political, defense, economic and cultural fields.
Diplomatic cooperation between the two countries has been a key pillar in addressing various regional and international challenges, including countering extremism and intolerance, promoting tolerance and coexistence, and contributing to global security and peace.
Historically, the relationship between the UAE and France dates back to the founding of the UAE, when French oil companies, such as Tota, worked on oil exploration in the UAE, and the relationship between the UAE and France started shortly after the establishment of the UAE, and was further strengthened after the first visit of the founding father, late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, to France in 1975. Since then, there have been high-level official visits and regular meetings, and increased cooperation has strengthened the partnership.
The UAE-France Strategic Dialog, established in 2008, aims to identify current and future opportunities and partnerships and ensure continued cooperation in priority sectors such as economy, trade, investment, culture, oil and gas, nuclear and renewable energy, education, culture, health, space, security and other areas of common interest.
During the past few years, dozens of agreements and memoranda of understanding were signed between the two countries in various economic, cultural, military and environmental sectors, the news agency said. The most recent of these was the signing of 13 agreements during President Macron’s visit to the UAE in December last year. On the economic front, the UAE and France enjoy excellent economic and investment relations, which are reflected in the non-oil foreign trade data between the two countries. According to data from the Federal Center for Competitiveness and Statistics, the total volume of non-oil foreign trade between the two countries reached more than 25.2 billion dirhams by the end of 2021.
The cultural partnership between the two countries is important because it connects the communication between their peoples, she added. Over the years, the partnership has made many achievements, such as the opening of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the Arab world’s first international museum, and France’s largest overseas cultural project. The Sorbonne University of Abu Dhabi was founded in 2006 following an agreement between the Sorbonne University of Paris and the government of Abu Dhabi.
In the United Arab Emirates, there are seven French-accredited high schools, which constitute the sixth largest network of French schools in the world in terms of enrollment, with more than 100,000 students. In 2018, the pilot phase of the French language program was implemented in all public schools in the UAE. More than 60,000 students are now learning French in public and private schools in the country.
Pivotal state
French newspaper La Croix noted that French-UAE relations are in the interest of France, as the UAE has become a major country in the Middle East in recent years.
It continued: Politicians in France agree that Mohamed Ben Zayed has become one of the most influential leaders in the Middle East, if not the world, by imposing his political agenda and vision on the Arab world and maintaining special relations with Westerners, starting with the United States and especially France in Europe.
It added that the UAE has taken great strides before most of its neighbors in all fields through the Dubai Expo, which is considered the most important event in the world today, in addition to hosting the most famous defense and arms fairs. The UAE will conclude its current year by hosting the COP28 climate summit at the end of this year to discuss major climate challenges in the future.
A combination of brilliance and ambition is the hallmark of the UAE, which has made it a prominent country France seeks to strengthen co-operation with and expand the horizon for co-operation, the newspaper said.
