Whilst French President Nicolas Sarkozy was visiting, both France and the UAE also signed a contract to develop peaceful nuclear energy, and it marks the latest in a series of similar agreements between France and Arab nations.
It was announced on the WAM news agency that such a deal would "boost relations between the two friendly countries through military cooperation".
The contract, it was further revealed, was inked by UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan and French Defence Minister Herve Morin.
It is said that the new military base will give France the means of projecting the country’s forces into a strategic oil-producing area.
