Abu Dhabi: The UAE values the strategic and political cooperation with France as a cornerstone and a top priority of its foreign policy because it cements stability and development in the Gulf, Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs, said on Monday.
Shaikh Abdullah said the UAE and France will sign a memorandum of understanding that provides for appointing Emirati diplomats in the French missions in the countries where the UAE has no diplomatic missions.
Welcoming the state visit of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Shaikh Abdullah reiterated the UAE's interest in widening the avenues of joint cooperation and investment between both nations.
He also emphasised the successful cultural and scientific convergence between the UAE and France, which was reflected by the establishment of the Louvre Abu Dhabi Museum in Saadiyat Island, the Paris-Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi and the UAE's contribution to restoration of the Palace of Fontainebleau, the largest French royal palace and park.
Speaking at a regional maritime security conference in Abu Dhabi, Shaikh Abdullah cited the landmark nuclear cooperation agreement between the UAE and France, which provides a framework for cooperation between the two countries in the evaluation and potential use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
Under the agreement, the UAE and France set up a high-level joint committee to supervise cooperation in the areas of nuclear power generation, water desalination, basic and applied research, as well as in agronomy, earth sciences, medicine and industry.
The UAE is France's largest trade partner in the Middle East, with the French investments in the UAE amounting to more than Dh3 billion.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said France's first military base in the Gulf will fight piracy, safeguard crucial oil and gas routes and protect the environment from pollution.
He said oil and gas routes in the Gulf are very crucial to the international community with more than one fifth of the world's daily oil consumption, 62 per cent of gas supplies and 90 per cent of Europe's trade using these maritime routes.
"France also endeavours to protects its interests and around one million French people living abroad," Kouchner said.
He said the world's seas must remain free from threats to communication, power and water desalination stations.
Sarkozy is to inaugurate the French naval base in Abu Dhabi dubbed as the naval peace camp today.
The base will be used by French naval vessels including nuclear-armed submarines and Sarkozy told the Emirates News Agency that France will "be at your side if your security was to be threatened".
The base will be France's fifth military outpost in a foreign country.
The other bases in addition to Djibouti are located in former African colonies Ivory Coast, Gabon and Senegal.
France, which earlier this year rejoined the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's military command, plans to station 250 troops in the UAE and up to 300 more will be deployed on a temporary basis.
