ABU DHABI: French President Nicolas Sarkozy will open today his country’s first naval base here in the Gulf Arab region.
“The French President will Tuesday launch the Maritime Peace Camp due to significance of the maritime security in the region to the world,” UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan said at a maritime security conference that was attended by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and a number of diplomatic corps and senior officers from both the UAE and France.
Sheikh Abdullah also said the UAE and France would sign a memorandum of understanding, whereby UAE diplomats would be appointed in the French diplomatic missions in the countries where the UAE has no diplomatic missions.
The UAE also wants French support for its bid to host the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the global green energy body, in Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Abdullah said. “The UAE government has requested to host IRENA, we hope you will support our request,” he said.
Kouchner told the conference the naval base in Abu Dhabi is aimed at supporting and training France’s allies in the fragile region.
“Some 90 percent of European trade traffic is by sea and we have to defend traffic and trade and we are interested in the Gulf and want to bring about the necessary balance in this region,” he said.
Kouchner said the region is exposed to dangers and threats, indicating that the news of the North Korea nuclear missile represents a challenge to the international community. He also talked about the problem of piracy, adding that his country was taking part in combating it.
“The GCC countries and Yemen understand this problem because piracy is not confined to the commercial vessels and hostages, but also extends to small tourist ships. Hence, the fighting of piracy is a must to the world”. The French foreign minister stressed the importance of the world sea gateways as 62 percent of oil passes through them.
Sheikh Abdullah revealed that the UAE is a major economic partner to France in the Middle East and French investments are over AED3 billion in the UAE.
