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Government - Foreign Policy


FOREIGN POLICY


The foreign policy of the United Arab Emirates is based upon a set of guiding principles laid down by the country's first President, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. These are based upon a belief in the need for justice in international dealings between states, including the necessity of adhering to the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of others and the pursuit, wherever possible, of peaceful resolutions of disputes, together with a support for international institutions, such as the United Nations.

Within the Arabian Gulf region, and in the broader Arab world, the United Arab Emirates has sought to enhance cooperation and to resolve disagreement through dialogue. Thus one of the central features of the country's foreign policy has been the development of closer ties with its neighbours in the Arabian Peninsula. The Arab Gulf Cooperation Council (AGCC), grouping the UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman, was founded at a summit conference held in Abu Dhabi in May 1981, and has since become, with strong UAE support, an effective and widely respected grouping.

President HH Sheikh Khalifa sees the promotion of intra-GCC ties as being a fundamental element in the UAE's foreign policy:

I strongly believe that the Gulf region is one entity and one area. Unity is strength. It is my hope that we would be able to forge a greater union or federation, across the Gulf, not just in the UAE, and the success of our federation in the UAE is a cause for hope. Unity is a conviction and a belief.

This objective will be further enhanced by the announcement at the end of the 28th Gulf Summit in Doha, Qatar, that the long-awaited common market will be launched on 1 January 2008.

During 2007, the Arab-Israeli conflict continued to cause concern. Meeting in Abu Dhabi in July 2007 with the visiting Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, President HH Sheikh Khalifa reaffirmed the UAE's support for the Palestinian people and for the Palestine Authority, but called on the Palestinians to come together and to unite so as to face effectively the challenges before them. He also called on the international community to work seriously to bring an end to the sufferings of the Palestinian people and to activate the peace process on the basis of the Arab peace initiative.

The UAE continues to believe that the restoration of security, peace and stability in the region, as well as normalisation of relations between all countries, including Israel, cannot be achieved while Israeli occupation of the Palestinian and Arab territories continues and supports an ending of the occupation and establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, within the context of a just and lasting peace agreement based upon the Arab peace initiative.

Sadly, for a variety of reasons, little progress was made in 2007 year towards the achieving of a long-term peace settlement. In an interview in June 2007, Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan noted that:

The UAE, and other Arab states, welcome any initiatives taken to revive the Middle East peace process. There is an urgent need to get things moving again, to stave off the possibility of yet more violence, and there is also a need for the world's powers to exert pressure on Israel to accept the need for a full withdrawal from all occupied territory and for a just and fair peace settlement that will guarantee to the Palestinians the ability to exercise their legitimate right to establish their own state, within secure and agreed borders, and with Jerusalem as its capital'.

He went on, in an address to the United Nations General Assembly in September, to state that:

We call on the United Nations and the Security Council in particular, to play a more active role, together with the Middle East Quartet, in order to give new momentum to the Middle East peace process. We stress that no comprehensive and just solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict is possible without Israel's acceptance of the Arab Initiative, which is based on the relevant United Nations resolutions, and which offers a balanced and comprehensive solution to this long-standing conflict . . .

We look forward to a balanced and fair management of the peace process as well as to an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict, this being based upon the Arab Peace Initiative, the Road Map and United Nations Security Council Resolutions as well as on the rules of international legitimacy in general'

The UAE was an active participant in the decisions of the March 2007 Arab summit, held in Riyadh, to continue to promote the initiative agreed by the earlier Beirut summit as a practical and real solution to the Middle East crisis, noting that it took into account the fundamental factors that must be included in any settlement, such as the right of the Palestinians to establish their own independent state, within agreed borders and with Jerusalem as its capital, the right of refugees to return and the evacuation by Israel of all occupied territories.

In his capacity as a member of the Arab Quartet, also including the Foreign Ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan, the UAE Foreign Minister was active in efforts to promote the Arab initiative in a series of meetings, including with the US Secretary of State and the British Foreign Secretary.

Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed also led the UAE delegation to the Annapolis Conference in November 2007 in an attempt to revive the long-stalled peace negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

The UAE continued to provide support to the Government of Iraq in its efforts to restore stability and security to the country. In a major interview with a Greek newspaper early in 2007, the Foreign Minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, spelt out the UAE's views on the conflict, and on the action necessary to bring it to an end:

We reiterate our support for the efforts aimed at enabling Iraq to regain its security and to strengthen its national unity. We call on all Iraqis, regardless of political affiliation or social class, to actively participate in building a new Iraq.

As a way out of the current crisis, it is necessary to arrive at a comprehensive political formula that is agreed by all Iraqi parties. Such a formula should be consistent with the pledge made by the Iraqi government to review and amend the constitution. We believe that maintaining security in Iraq will reflect positively on the region as a whole.

In our view, all parties must get involved in the plan to strengthen security. There is also a need to disarm all militias and restrict weapons only to the security forces, so as to stop violence and chaos, and to resume the political process with the objective of repairing Iraq's economic and social fabric. At the same time, we believe that there is a pressing need to restructure the Iraqi security forces, to encourage the different sects, especially the Sunnis, to participate actively in the political process and to resort to dialogue for Iraq's security, stability and territorial integrity.

It is imperative that all of Iraq's neighbours should refrain from interfering in its affairs and that all parties should deal only with the central government to help the Iraqi government and people. The international community should also initiate positive and active steps to help Iraq and its people maintain security and stability.

Within that framework, the UAE has continued to extend support, both diplomatic and material, to the Iraqi authorities and has also endeavoured to maintain relations with all of the country's communities.

During 2007, no visible progress was made on resolving the long-running dispute with neighbouring Iran on the question of the three UAE islands of Abu Musa and Greater and Lesser Tunb. UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan noted, in an address to the United Nations General Assembly in September that . . .

until now, no progress whatsoever has been made on the settlement of the issue . . . This lack of progress has been despite all the efforts and peaceful constructive initiatives that my country consistently puts forward, which call for the solution of this issue by peaceful means, either through bilateral and unconditional negotiations, or by referral of the issue to the International Court of Justice for legal arbitration.

The UAE has also continued to express concern about Iran's nuclear power programme, and has sought reassurances that the programme is for peaceful purposes only.

Beyond the Arab world, the United Arab Emirates has pursued a policy of seeking, wherever possible, to build friendly relations with other nations, both in the developing and in the industrialised world. While this policy is implemented at a bilateral level, another important feature of UAE foreign policy has been its support for international bodies, like the United Nations and its various agencies. Through its support for such bodies, it seeks to reinforce the rule of international law, and to support the implementation of internationally agreed conventions, so as to protect the interests of the small, the weak and the powerless.

During the year, there was the usual steady flow of high-ranking visitors from other countries to the Emirates, both from within the Gulf and Arab world, and from further afield. In pursuit of these objectives, senior UAE officials have made numerous visits abroad, both for bilateral talks with individual countries and to attend international meetings.

Among official visits overseas by President HH Sheikh Khalifa during 2007 were trips to Syria, Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and France, while Vice President and Prime Minister HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum made high profile visits to several countries, including South Korea, India, Vietnam and China during which a number of bilateral agreements were reached. He also met in London in October with the new British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, with the two countries agreeing to work together, as partners, in primary education for deprived children in developing countries.

The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed and other senior officials also made numerous, important overseas trips, including visits to South Korea, China, India, Pakistan, Iran, much of the Arab world and Europe and the United States, testimony to the global reach of the country's foreign relationships. Numerous top-ranking visitors, including heads of state and heads of government, also visited the UAE during the year. Amongst these was Vladmir Putin, President of Russia, whose visit in September 2007 was the first-ever trip to the UAE by a Soviet or Russian Head of State.

Throughout 2007, the United Arab Emirates continued to extend all possible support to the international fight against terrorism, while emphasising the necessity both of a clear definition of terrorism and of ensuring that terrorism perpetrated by states should not be overlooked. Support has been offered to countries suffering from terrorism, including collaboration in terms of exchanges of information designed to help law enforcement authorities track down and arrest suspects.

It was, however, noted that terrorism often had its roots in social and economic deprivation. In a speech to the World Economic Forum in Dalian, China, in September, Vice President and Prime Minister HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum noted that:

Any soil infested in poverty, ignorance and neglect is always a good breeding ground for fundamentalism and produces fundamentalists. It is impossible to remedy this situation without reason, and probably one of the most important reasons for such problems is the stubborn resistance put up by fanatic schools of thoughts.

These stubborn people belong to a different world from the one in which we live. They try desperately to stop time, and they think that they can put obstacles in the way of the movement of the wheel of history. In this, those who expound a belief in the clash of civilisations are on an equal footing as terrorists and extremists in thoughts and practice.

Another important advancement made during the year was the enforcement of legislation passed in 2006 to eliminate all trafficking in people, as defined under international conventions, with the first, stringent, sentences being handed down to those convicted.

Numerous bilateral international agreements were signed in late 2006 and the first half of 2007, including agreements on judicial cooperation on money laundering and extradition with Britain and agreements on the avoidance of double taxation with a number of countries, including the Seychelles, Mauritius and Bosnia, while further agreements on these and other issues are under discussion with other countries.

Talks also continued on bilateral free trade agreements with the United States and Australia, amongst others, while the UAE continued to work, along with its fellow-members of the GCC, on a multilateral free trade agreement with the European Union and on agreements with Pakistan and India.

As noted at the beginning of this chapter, the UAE has always sought, since its establishment, to work with and to support the United Nations and its specialised agencies. During late 2006 and 2007, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Interior continued to work closely with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on the rehabilitation of children who had formerly been working as camel jockeys in the Emirates. The practice, fuelled by smuggling rings from their countries of origin, was made illegal in 2005. Agreements were also signed with their countries of origin to lay down a long-term framework for the rehabilitation programme. The UAE's efforts to eradicate the use of children in the sport have been widely acknowledged.

At a multilateral level, the UAE has continued to work closely with international organisations, including the United Nations and its diverse family of agencies (see also Foreign Aid Ð below). As noted, however, by Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan in an interview with the Pakistani media in June 2007, Ôthe UAE supports a re-examination of the UN Charter, to take account of the changing nature of global society since the body was first created over 60 years ago. Such changes should, in our view, involve changes in the structure of the Security Council.' The UAE also expressed support for Japan's claim to a permanent seat on the Council.

Changes in the global community over the last decades have meant that there has, naturally, been some change in emphasis in the direction of UAE foreign policy. The reasoning for this was spelt out by the Foreign Minister in an interview with Indian media in June 2007.

The UAE adheres to a balanced foreign policy based on building, developing, and enhancing relations with friendly countries East and West. However, we have always Ôlooked East' Ð it has been a feature of our political and commercial relationships for generations. With the explosive economic growth now being enjoyed by . . . Asian countries, it is natural that we in the Emirates should seek to further develop our ties in all fields.

As part of this, a greater focus on developing relations with countries like Japan, China, South Korea, India and Pakistan has been apparent, not just because of the close economic ties with these countries, but because the UAE believes, strongly, that they should become more actively involved in efforts to achieve a Middle East peace settlement and in contributing to attempts to resolve the crisis in Iraq.

In overall terms, as has been the case since the establishment of the United Arab Emirates, the country's foreign policy has continued during the course of the last year to be characterised by prudence, a support for conciliation and consensus, as well as for international institutions, yet also by a readiness, if necessary, to support the use of force to defend the rights of the weak.

Building on the initial guidelines laid down by the country's founder-President, and under the leadership of his successor, President HH Sheikh Khalifa, that approach will continue to guide the UAE's foreign policy in the years ahead.

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