UAE's Economic Council and Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Military Industries (GAMI) signed on Monday a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the sidelines of the International Defense Exhibition and Conference (IDEX 2021).
The agreement aims to build strategic relations of cooperation, partnership and integration between the two sides.
The MoU was signed by Jassem Mohammed Bu Ataba AlZaabi, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Department of Finance and Secretary General of Tawazun’s Board of Directors, and Ahmed bin Abdulazis Al-Ohali, Governor of GAMI.
The signing ceremony, which took place at Tawazun’s Pavilion at IDEX, was attended by Tareq Abdulraheem Al Hosani, Chief Executive Officer of Tawazun, and officials from the two sides.
Al-Ohali said the MoU comes in line with the strong ties and continuous cooperation between the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
"Under the MoU, we will work to accelerate joint action for implementation of the Tawazun Economic Programs. Our objective is to transfer technology and know-how and to build an integrated base for defense industries in the Gulf," he stated.
For his part, Al Zaabi said the MoU stems from the deep-rooted relations between the two fraternal countries, the foundation of which was laid by Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia.
Later, the UAE armed forces announced it had signed defense contracts worth 7.293 billion dirhams ($2 billion) with local and international firms, state news agency WAM reported.
The deals included a 3.74 billion dirhams contract with Saab for GlobalEye surveillance systems that was disclosed by the manufacturer in January. It also included a 2.61 billion dirhams agreement for Patriot missiles from Raytheon.
A day earlier, the armed forces announced 5 billion dirhams in local and international deals on the first day of the week-long exhibition.
