ABU DHABI, Jan 15: France and the United Arab Emirates signed deals during a visit by French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday for Paris to set up a military base in the UAE and help it develop civilian nuclear energy.

A defence agreement inked during the visit to Abu Dhabi calls for 400 to 500 French army, navy and air force personnel to be stationed at the base, said vice admiral Jacques Mazars, who negotiated the deal for France.

“The base will be permanent. It will be the first such French base in the Gulf and it will face the Strait of Hormuz,” the strategic waterway through which much of the world’s oil supplies pass, a French presidential source said.

Edouard Guillaud, a military aide of Sarkozy, said the military facility will be established in Abu Dhabi and become operational in 2009.

Mazars said around 150 navy personnel will be stationed at a naval site at Abu Dhabi port.

The deals were signed after Sarkozy arrived in Abu Dhabi from Qatar for a brief visit on the final leg of a Gulf tour that started in Saudi Arabia.

Sarkozy held talks with UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan.

The WAM news agency said Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan and French Defence Minister Herve Morin inked an agreement to boost military relations, but it did not provide details.

The other agreement signed on Tuesday by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and his Emirati counterpart “outlines a cooperation framework for the assessment and possible use of nuclear energy for peaceful ends,” WAM said.

Sheikh Abdullah said the accord complements, and does not clash with, a plan by the six Arab monarchies of the Gulf Cooperation Council to develop a joint peaceful nuclear programme.

Amid concerns over Iran’s nuclear aims and regional clout, GCC members Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE decided in December 2006 to develop a joint nuclear technology programme for peaceful uses.

During Sarkozy’s stop in Doha, ahead of Abu Dhabi, a memorandum of understanding was also inked by Qatar with Electricite de France (EDF) to discuss cooperation in the production of nuclear power and renewable energies.—AFP