EU launches negotiations with United Arab Emirates on a strategic partnership agreement covering R&I

The European Union has launched the process of negotiating a Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), it announced on 11/12/2025.

The agreement will "accelerate ongoing efforts to explore new opportunities in areas such as connectivity, research and innovation, energy, green and digital transition and artificial intelligence", said Dubravka Šuica, EU Commissioner for the Mediterranean, and Lana Nusseibeh, Minister of State in the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

They reaffirmed their shared determination to deepen and strengthen the strategic UAE-EU partnership and the important role both sides can play in building bridges between Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

"Exploring the potential of investment in AI, in the green energy transition, in new technologies and research, exploring ways we could cooperate in exchange for resources and research... These are some of the exciting areas that I think the SPA will unlock as we look at the negotiations in the coming period," the UAE Minister said.

Following the first-ever EU-Gulf Cooperation Council…