The Embassy of the United Arab Emirates and the U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council co-hosted a reception Tuesday evening in honor of key representatives from the U.A.E. Armed Forces and defense industry, visiting on occasion of the 2017 Association of the United States Army (AUSA) Annual Meeting & Exposition in Washington, D.C.  Attending delegates represented U.A.E. Air and Land Forces, as well as a range of Emirati defense firms, including Emirates Defence Industries Company (EDIC), Tawazun Economic Council, Mubadala Aerospace, Emirates Defense Technology and International Golden Group (IGG). They were greeted by His Excellency Yousef Al Otaiba, U.A.E. Ambassador to the U.S., Saud Al Nowais, Commercial Attaché at the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates Trade and Commercial Office, Danny Sebright, President of the U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council, senior government officials, and private-sector stakeholders.

L to R: Danny Sebright, President of the U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council, Tareq Al Hosani, CEO of Tawazun Economic Council and Tawazun Holding, and Saud Al Nowais, Commercial Attaché at the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates Trade and Commercial Office in Washington D.C.

During his opening remarks, Mr. Sebright highlighted the landmark Defense Cooperation Agreement signed between the U.S. and U.A.E., “The U.A.E.  is one of America’s most reliable partners in the region, especially as it continues to invest in developing its own defense capabilities and infrastructure with the help of many of the representatives of the public and private sector attending our event this evening. And with the new DCA agreement, the Emirates looks to take that development a step further through potentially even greater information sharing, technology transfer, and R&D cooperation with the U.S., thereby maintaining itself as a beacon of stability in a volatile region.”

Mr. Al Nowais formally welcomed guests to the U.A.E. Embassy and outlined the strengths of the overall U.S.-U.A.E. bilateral relationship by saying, “On behalf of Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba, we are honored to host the several delegations from the U.A.E. who are in town to attend the AUSA conference this week. As we have done in the past, we are hopeful that through engagements like this, we can continue to further grow our commercial and defense relationships with U.S. counterparts.”

Mr. Al Nowais also introduced Mr. Tareq Al Hosani, the new CEO of Tawazun Economic Council (TEC) and Tawazun Holding, and told the audience about some of Mr. Al Hosani’s many achievements in his previous jobs.

Mr. Al Hosani then highlighted his new role as CEO of TEC and discussed future partnerships between American and Emirati defense companies in order to strengthen the vital defense and security interests of the two nations.  Mr. Al Hosani said that he was honored to be visiting Washington, D.C. to attend AUSA and to be the guest of honor at the U.A.E. Embassy reception.

Mr. Al Nowais and Mr. Sebright concluded the evening’s program, with Mr. Sebright noting the publication of a newly updated U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council study on the U.S.-U.A.E. Security and Defense relationship.

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