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The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and France signed an arms deal for 19,000 million dollars, with which the Gulf State will acquire 80 Rafale fighter jets and 12 military helicopters. It is the largest international sale of aircraft of this type that France has made in its history. The agreement concluded on December 3, while French President Emmanuel Macron began a two-day trip during which he will also visit Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
“A strategic partnership stronger than ever.” With these words, the French Presidency in a statement celebrated the signing of a contract between the European country and the UAE, for the sale to the Gulf State of 80 Rafale fighter jets, worth 19,000 million dollars. The signatories of the agreement in Dubai were the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, and the prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohamed bin Zayed.
The French Presidency announced that the sale to the United Arab Emirates of 12 Caracal helicopters, manufactured by the Airbus group, has also been completed.
⏱60 secondes Defense!
📆 Aujourd’hui, the sale of 80 Rafale airplanes aux Émirats arabes unis:
✅ Le plus gros contrat d’armement de l’Histoire
✅ A strategic partnership et militaire très dense pic.twitter.com/7fyBeqJ2ux
– Porte-parole du ministère des Armées (@HerveGrandjean) December 3, 2021
This business is the largest ever recorded by Dassault, the French aircraft manufacturer, whose Rafale is already sold to Egypt, India, Qatar, Greece, Croatia and now the UAE.
Since all Rafales will be manufactured in France, the Government stated that this sale will directly support 7,000 jobs in the country.
Dassault currently manufactures an average of 11 aircraft per year and this is considered the minimum threshold for its industrial chain to be viable. With this new order, added to the one that Egypt made in May for 30 aircraft, the manufacturing average could be multiplied by two or three.
The 80 Rafale should be ready for delivery from 2027 and all aircraft should be dispatched before 2031. According to the French Defense Ministry, the aircraft will be in the “F4” format, which is the latest and most sophisticated Rafale model. .
On Friday, after the announcement, the shares of the French group Dassault soared almost 9%.
France’s growing role in the Persian Gulf and its ties to the Emiratis
The signing of the agreement came on the first day of a visit by the French president to the region. Emmanuel Macron is scheduled to fly to Qatar on Friday afternoon and meet with Saudi Arabian Prince Mohamed bin Salman on Saturday. The purpose of the trip is to develop cooperation between the parties in the fight against terrorism, discuss stability in the region and expand their economic collaboration.
Macron’s visit also comes at a time when states in the area have expressed their uncertainty about the approach of their main ally, the United States, for the region, and seek to strengthen their ties with other until now secondary partners.
Since taking over the French Presidency in 2017, Macron has forged a good relationship with Abu Dhabi prince Mohamed bin Zayed, which was illustrated by a flow of investment between the two countries.
Fier de voir that the Pavillon France de l’Exposition universelle de Dubaï is one of the most visited! Notre patrimoine culturel, notre excellence dans les domaines d’avenir et nos savoir-faire rayonnent. pic.twitter.com/4tp2MPfbvE
– Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) December 3, 2021
A few months after his election, Macron traveled to the UAE to inaugurate the Louvre Abu Dhabi, built under a $ 1.2 billion agreement to share the name and works of the famous Parisian museum.
In September this year, the French leader received the Emirati prince at the historic Fontainebleau Castle, located on the outskirts of Paris and which was restored in 2019 thanks to 11 million dollars donated by the Emirates.
But it is the agreement to sell the Rafale that marks a victory for the French country and its president, after 13 years of negotiations with the Gulf country, marked by ups and downs and the failure of Macron’s three predecessors who tried to seal the deal. .
On the other hand, a few months before the French presidential elections in April 2022, it is a contract that comes at the right time for the very likely candidate. Especially after last September, Australia canceled the so-called “contract of the century”, with which it would buy French submarines, to replace it with the AUKUS Agreement with the United States and the United Kingdom. The negotiation with the French was valued at more than 60,000 million euros.
“Atrocious military operations”
But the recent sale and Macron’s visit to the Gulf countries are frowned upon by all and are harshly criticized by many human rights groups.
France faces growing recriminations for its contracts for the sale of arms and military equipment to the Gulf states, mainly due to the conflict in Yemen between the military coalition – to which the UAE belongs – led by Saudi Arabia and the aligned Houthi rebels. with Iran.
Since its inception in 2015, the war in Yemen has led to one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.
“France is pushing ahead with these sales despite the UAE playing a prominent role in the heinous military operations led by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen,” Human Rights Watch said in a statement.
“However, the UAE was France’s fifth arms client between 2011 and 2020. The French president should denounce human rights violations in these three countries,” the organization added.
This Friday, December 3, a complaint for “war crimes and financing of terrorism” was filed in Paris against Mohamed bin Zayed and Mohamed bin Salman, the princes of the Emirates and Saudi Arabia, respectively.
Lawyer Joseph Breham filed an indictment in the Paris court, indicting the two crown princes of serious and numerous crimes, including “war crimes”, “torture”, “enforced disappearances” and “financing of terrorism”.
With Reuters, AFP and local media
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