Arms in the United Arab Emirates: the ban on exports is lifted

The ban on arms exports to the United Arab Emirates is lifted. This was decided by the government, announced the press release released after the Council of Ministers, implementing a decision taken by the previous executive headed by Mario Draghi. The Meloni government has therefore decreed the end of the stop on the sale of Italian weapons to the Emirates.

The CDM, after hearing a detailed report from the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, “has implemented what was established by the previous government, and therefore certifies that the export of military material to the United Arab Emirates no longer falls within the prohibitions established by Article 1, paragraphs 5 and 6 of Law No. 185 of 9 July 1990”.

A decision that is also based on the results of “a fact-finding investigation by the Foreign and Community Affairs Committee of the Chamber, on the fact that the military engagement of the United Arab Emirates in Yemen has ceased. Subsequently, the scenario continued to evolve positively: military activities in Yemen have slowed and limited since April 2022, and diplomatic activity has significantly accelerated.Emirates’ engagement with other regional actors has made progress.Between 2015 and 2021, they have allocated 5.5 billion euros for the stabilization and reconstruction of Yemen, a commitment that continued in 2022 with 500 million euros and again last November, with the International Monetary Fund and the Arab Monetary Fund, with a commitment of 1.5 billion dollars over three years”.

A few weeks ago, returning from India, the premier was in Abu Dhabi, on a mission for a “strategic partnership” agreement that would relaunch the military and industrial cooperation interrupted in 2021. “The Meloni government lifts the ban on selling materials armament to the United Arab Emirates, a ban imposed in 2019 by the Conte government 1 due to the country’s role in the bloody war of aggression against Yemen and the serious war crimes committed by the Saudi-led coalition of which Abu Dhabi has always been a pillar fundamental – comment the M5S deputies and senators of the Foreign Affairs and Defense commissions of the Chamber and Senate – The government’s decision comes even if the conflict, despite the recent truce, has not yet been concluded with a peace treaty and there are still illegal Yemeni territories employees and responsibility for crimes to be clarified Meloni, Crosetto and Tajani – who have shown great activism towards the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia since they have been in government – the aggressors are not all the same, especially when military supplies are at stake. The government demonstrates that it does not use double standards, also in consideration of a geopolitical scenario in which decisions taken lightly without assessing all the consequences are not appropriate”.