Australia looks to strengthen ties with UAE ahead of Sheikh Abdullah visit

Australia's new ambassador to the UAE hopes to push education, trade and innovation between both countries.

Arthur Spyrou, Australia’s ambassador to the UAE, wants to focus on the areas of culture and education. This is his first posting in the Middle East. Ravindranath K / The National

ABU DHABI // Australia’s new ambassador to the UAE has been working hard to push education, trade and innovation between the two countries.

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, Minister of Foreign Affairs, will visit Canberra on March 16, and Arthur Spyrou, who has been in the job for six weeks, is keen for ties to be strengthened as he adapts to his new surroundings.

“The UAE is quite amazing,” said Mr Spyrou, who arrived in the country on January 4. “I knew it was a place that was moving very fast, which is one of the key reasons I wanted to come here.

“We have a very valuable and big relationship here with the UAE, from people to people, government to government, commercial, education – and I just wanted to be a part of that.”

With 25,000 Australians living in the UAE, the country is Australia’s ninth-largest home for citizens abroad.

“That makes it really interesting for us, because we have a lot of friends and people we can share our experiences with, and who can help us understand the UAE better,” he said. “[Although,] I don’t think it’s particularly difficult to understand the UAE because it’s so open and welcoming.”

Mr Spyrou’s previous postings include Kuala Lumpur, Paris, Brussels and Athens, and Abu Dhabi is his first in the Middle East.

“I would like to encourage more Australians to come here and encourage more Emiratis to go to Australia, for tourism, education, or just to come set up a business and invest,” he said.

“We should try to find ways for both countries to prosper together.

“Part of my work here is to encourage the UAE to trade with Australia, but the other part of my work is I go to Australia once a year, across all states, and I encourage them to come to the Emirates, trade with it and get to know it.”

He said culture and education were two areas he would focus on. “The late Sheikh Zayed said the measure of a country is the education it can offer its people and the culture it has,” Mr Spyrou said.

“Australia is the third-largest provider of education [to the UAE] and many people in very senior positions here were educated in Australia. It’s an interesting area and I think there is more we can do, because there is a great demand to ensure the diversification of the economy, but also the Emiratisation push of various organisations, and I think we can help with that.”

Although a free-trade agreement with the GCC remains a priority, Mr Spyrou said innovation and defence were among the key topics of discussion when Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull visited Abu Dhabi in January.

Sheikh Abdullah will meet Mr Turnbull as well as the ministers of defence, trade and foreign affairs.

“These visits really are, for me, the lifeblood of a relationship,” Mr Spyrou said. “You can really take the temperature of a relationship by seeing what sorts of visits we have. So I think we’re at a high-water mark.”

The UAE has hosted Australian air force and military personnel since 2014, as part of the international coalition fighting ISIL.

“The UAE could tap Australia’s vast experience in asymmetric warfare and military technology,” said Dr Albadr Al Shateri, adjunct professor at the National Defence College. “Potential cooperation between the two could include nuclear, space and high-tech.”

Sabahat Khan, senior analyst at the Institute of Near East and Gulf Military Analysis in Dubai, said: “There are strong prospects for deeper defence ties underpinned by trade and industrial collaboration.”

The relationship between the two countries has progressed over the past 20 years, according to Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, a political science professor at UAE University. “I think the UAE is betting that this relationship can be expanded,” he said.

“This all comes out of the UAE following a policy of diversifying its portfolio of friends and strategic allies, and I think Australia, in turn, values the UAE’s stability, achievements and success.”