“Emirati-French Bilateral Relations: Strengthening Strategic Partnership and Cooperation”

The Emirati-French bilateral relations are witnessing increasing growth at various levels, which contributes to strengthening the strategic partnership that binds them and gives it a special character characterized by privacy, mutual respect, and converging visions on regional and global issues.

The leaderships of the two countries, represented by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the State, and the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, have assumed various aspects of support and concern for the relations between the two countries, and the two countries have begun to reap its fruits on the political, defence, economic and cultural levels.

The diplomatic presence of the two countries constituted a main pillar for facing various types of regional and international challenges. Together, they played a prominent role in confronting extremism and fanaticism, contributing to spreading the concepts of tolerance and coexistence between religions and societies, and actively contributing to the consolidation of global peace and security.

Historically, the relations between the two countries go back to before the establishment of the UAE federation, when a number of French oil companies, such as Total, worked in oil exploration in the Emirates, while the two countries formalized their bilateral relationship immediately after the establishment of the UAE in 1971, and these relations were strengthened after The first visit of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, may God rest his soul, to France in 1975.

High-level official visits and periodic meetings highlight the volume of growing cooperation between the two countries, which resulted in the establishment of the Emirati-French Strategic Dialogue Committee, which began its work in 2008. The dialogue aims to identify existing and future opportunities and partnerships, and to ensure continuity of cooperation in existing projects and initiatives. Such as economy, trade, investment, culture, oil and gas, nuclear energy, renewable energy, education, culture, health, space and security, and other sectors of common priority.

In the same context, the two parties adopted, on June 3, 2020, a new roadmap for their strategic partnership in the next ten years, that is, from 2020 to 2030. In the fourteenth meeting of the committee, which was held last June in Abu Dhabi, the two sides discussed ways to strengthen the main sectors of bilateral cooperation, such as the economy. Trade and investment, oil and gas, carbon-free hydrogen, nuclear and renewable energy, climate change, education, culture and health, artificial intelligence, food security and financial technology, intellectual property rights, countering money laundering and terrorist financing, space, in addition to electronic security.

The past years witnessed the signing of dozens of agreements and memorandums of understanding between the two countries in various economic, cultural, military and environmental fields, the most recent of which were 13 agreements signed during the visit of French President Emmanuel Macron to the UAE last December.

At the level of economic cooperation, the UAE and France have distinguished economic and investment relations, and the data of non-oil foreign trade between the two countries reflects the strength and durability of economic relations that extend for many decades, as the total volume of non-oil foreign trade between the two countries reached more than 25.2 billion dirhams by the end of 2021. According to the data of the Federal Center for Competitiveness and Statistics.

The two countries pay special attention to the cultural partnership between them, believing in its importance in building bridges of communication between the peoples of the two countries. During the past years, this partnership has witnessed many achievements represented in the opening of the Louvre Museum in Abu Dhabi, which is the first international museum in the Arab world, and the largest cultural project promoted by France in Abroad, as well as Paris-Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi, which was established in 2006, as the university represents a historic agreement that achieves the common vision between the UAE government and the French government, to achieve the best standards in the field of French education in the Middle East region.

The two countries played a major role in establishing the International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas (ALIPH), and the UAE contributed five million euros to support the Institute of the Arab World in Paris in 2017. In the same year, the Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Hall was inaugurated at the Louvre Museum in Paris. .

In addition, the UAE contributed to the restoration of the imperial theater of the Palace of Fontainebleau near Paris with a contribution of 10 million euros, and accordingly the theater was named after Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, may God have mercy on him.

■ Emirati and French diplomacy.. a major pillar for facing various types of regional and international challenges.

■ The two countries pay special attention to the cultural partnership, believing in its importance in building bridges of communication between the peoples of the two countries.

The largest network of French schools in the world

In the field of education, the seven French high schools accredited in the UAE constitute the sixth largest French school network in the world in terms of enrollment, with more than 10,000 students. In 2018, the pilot phase program was implemented to introduce the French language in all public schools in the Emirates, as more than 60,000 students are now learning the French language in public and private schools in the country.