The leaderships of the two countries give the relations between the two countries various aspects of support and attention

UAE and France. Extended partnership and consensus in all areas

The UAE-France bilateral relations are witnessing an escalating growth at various levels, which contributes to strengthening the strategic partnership that binds them and gives them a special character characterized by privacy, mutual respect, and convergent visions on regional and global issues.

The leaderships of the two countries, represented by President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and French President Emmanuel Macron, have assumed various aspects of support and interest in relations between the two countries, and the two countries have begun to reap their fruits at the political, defense, economic and cultural levels.

The diplomatic presence of the two countries has been a major pillar to confront various types of regional and international challenges, and together they have played a prominent role in confronting extremism and intolerance, contributing to the dissemination of concepts of tolerance and coexistence among religions and societies, and effectively contributing to the consolidation of global peace and security.

Historically, relations between the two countries date back to before the establishment of the UAE, where a number of French oil companies such as Total worked in oil exploration in the UAE, while the two countries formalized their bilateral relations 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 growing cooperation between the two countries, which resulted in the establishment of the UAE-France Strategic Dialogue Committee, which began its work in 2008, as the dialogue aims to identify existing and future opportunities and partnerships, and ensure the continuity of cooperation in existing projects and initiatives, such as economy, trade, investment, culture, oil and gas, nuclear energy, renewable energy, education and 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, i.e. from 2020 to 2030. At the fourteenth meeting of the committee, which was held last June in Abu Dhabi, the two sides discussed ways to enhance key sectors of bilateral cooperation such as economy, trade, 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, anti-money laundering and terrorist financing, space, in addition to cybersecurity.

The past years have witnessed the signing of dozens of agreements and memoranda of understanding between the two countries in various economic, cultural, military and environmental fields, the latest of which was 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 non-oil foreign trade data between the two countries reflects the strength and strength of decades-old economic relations, as the total volume of non-oil foreign trade between the two countries reached more than AED 25.2 billion by the end of 2021, according to data from the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Center.

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, and 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 abroad, as well as Paris-Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi, which was established in 2006, where 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 French education in the Middle East.

The two countries played a key role in the establishment of the International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas (ALIPH), and the UAE contributed five million euros to support the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris in 2017, and 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 Theatre 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 key pillar to face different types of regional and international challenges.

■ The two countries attach special importance to 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 education, the seven accredited French secondary schools in the UAE constitute the sixth largest network of French schools in the world in terms of enrolment, with more than 10000,2018 students. In 60, a pilot phase program was implemented to introduce French in all public schools in the UAE, with more than <>,<> students now learning French in public and private schools in the country.