The UAE and France have signed an agreement to collaborate on an Earth Observation Space Capability initiative. The signing of the agreement was witnessed by H.H. General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces; H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Foreign Minister, and Jean-Yves Le Drian, Minister for Defence of the French Republic.
The two sides issued a joint statement saying that the agreement comes as part of the strategic partnership framework discussed in January 2013 with the President, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, during an official visit by Francois Hollande, President of the French Republic. The initiative will extend the longstanding bilateral relationship between the two countries into a new and very promising area of strategic collaboration.
The agreement was signed on the UAE side by Major-General Essa Saif Al Mazrouei, Deputy Chief of Staff of the UAE Armed Forces, and on the French side by Lt-General Antoine Noguier, Director of the Military Office of the French Minister for Defense, in the presence of Gen. Shaikh Mohammed.
