UAE at a Glance - UAE Interact

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UAE AT A GL ANCE 2008 @ www.uaeinteract.com/governmentaffairs
participation in all levels of government and political society. The system of indirect elections now in
operation is perceived as being only a first stage in the reforming of the FNC's role in government.
In an interview published after the issuing of the August 2006 decree, the Minister of State for FNC
Affairs said that the move reflected the need to reform and to modernise the system of government.
He also noted that the introduction of indirect elections was only the first phase of a process designed
to enhance the role played by the FNC in the process of government.
Other steps planned for the future include a strengthening of the legislative and legal powers of
the FNC and the development of more effective and more viable channels of coordination between
the FNC and the executive authorities, like the Cabinet, as well as an expansion of the number of FNC
members, to reflect the increase in the number of the country's citizens, now many times larger than
it was when the UAE was founded in 1971.Consideration is also being given to the introduction of
an electoral process at local level, although no timetable has yet been announced for this.
Foreign Policy
The foreign policy of the UAE is based upon a set of guiding principles laid down by the country’s first
President, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and adhered to by the current President, Sheikh Khalifa
bin Zayed Al Nahyan. These guiding principles incorporate a belief in the need for justice in
international dealings between states, including the necessity of adhering to the principle of noninterference
in the internal affairs of others and the pursuit, wherever possible, of peaceful resolution
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 UAE 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 through the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
During the last year, the Arab-Israeli conflict has 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 it, therefore, supports an
ending of the occupation, the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as
its capital, and the right of refugees to return to their homeland within the context of a just and
lasting peace agreement based upon the Arab peace initiative.