UAE cabinet endorses French nuclear deal

11 March 2008

[Arabian Business, 10 March] During a meeting of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) council of ministers on 9 March, an agreement signed between France and the UAE on cooperation on the development of nuclear energy was endorsed. The deal itself was signed by French foreign and European affairs minister Bernard Kouchner and UAE minister of foreign affairs Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan during a visit by French president Nicolas Sarkozy to Abu Dhabi in January. The agreement "provides a framework for cooperation between the two countries in the evaluation and potential use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes," reported the WAM, the UAE state news agency. Under the agreement, the UAE and France will form a high-level joint committee to oversee cooperation in the areas of nuclear power generation, water desalination, basic and applied research, as well as in the fields of agronomy, earth sciences, medicine and industry.