Sarkozy: France to aid UAE if ever it gets threatened

Abu Dhabi: French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday said France will be at the UAE's side if its sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence were to be threatened.

"If anything were to happen to the UAE we would be on its side. This is how we recognise friends. We have decided to find adapted, specific and common answers when the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of the UAE were to be affected," said Sarkozy after he inaugurated the Maritime Peace Camp at Abu Dhabi Seaport.

The base is France's first major foreign military installation since the 1960s and its first outside Africa.

The installation is expected to help safeguard vital shipping lanes in the Gulf.

Sarkozy said the permanent French military base illustrates the responsibilities, France, a global power, undertakes, along with its partners in the region and the whole world.

"The military base which is made up of 500 troops is proof that France will be standing by the UAE. This base extends and completes a military cooperation already time-honoured and reinforced over the years by the military exercises, privileged contacts between officials of the two countries and the fact that our armies are equipped with common systems," the French president said.

He stressed that the base does not target anyone.

"It only translates the engagement of France in the long term with its friends."

Sarkozy also dismissed speculations that the French base in Abu Dhabi will replace the one in Djibouti.

"France wants to help both UAE and Djibouti and the message is peace and stability. The Djibouti and the UAE are not rivals but complements each other. They facilitate the presence of peace in the Indian Ocean near France's allies, which helps against international piracy," he said.

The French president added that the presence of France in the UAE offers the possibility of showing the world that France is not only capable of providing military material, but can also take part in technology, economics, culture, education, science and energy.

"We want the world to know, through our relationship with the UAE that there is peace and tolerance and that there are values that make Emiratis and French closer. These values are love of peace, respect towards others, and a sustainable development. Our permanent military presence is in a region that aspires to peace, stability and prosperity for all people."

Sarkozy said he is glad the UAE and France are able to make their relations even deeper.

"The UAE is a unique country and France is proud to be standing by it in its visionary project. This project belongs to a new country but it respects its traditions, it is dynamic but also looks for stability, proud of its national identity, but also open to other cultures, traditions and modernity, united without conflict but in harmony," he said.

Sarkozy praised the UAE, which he said in one generation has become a laboratory of globalisation.

"A country that invests in its history and its culture ; a country that invests in education& that's a country that is investing for the future," he said.

Stressing that civil nuclear energy is not exclusive for western countries, Sarkozy said the UAE is the first Arab country that France wants to create exemplary cooperation in this field in transparency and respect of international laws. He also paid tribute to Masdar, which he described as an extraordinary example for the world that an oil country contributes in international efforts for sustainable development. "It is the vision that I am trying to develop along with the Grand Paris project," he said.

Camp's mission: Enhanced security

French Defence Minister Hervé Morin stressed his country's keenness on enhancing joint cooperation fields with the UAE. "We are working on developing the relations with the UAE which enjoys high credibility in its relationship with France," he said.

The UAE has a high international status as a result of its balanced policies that are aimed at achieving international stability and security, he added.

The French minister added in an interview with Al Arabia that the launching of the Maritime Peace Camp resembles a new phase in the cooperation between the two countries, in the framework of the defence treaty previously signed between the two countries.

He also said that the camp is extremely important to the maritime security in a region highly imperative to France. He said piracy in Somalia has led France to seriously think about backing and solidifying maritime security, adding that the task of the camp is to back French troops in the Indian ocean.

-WAM