Le premier magazine international entre les Emirats arabes unis et la France, notamment entre Abu Dhabi, Dubaï et Paris.
September 2022 By Sarra Essouayeni and Jérôme Lamy, In Abu Dhabi
Xavier Chatel, the French Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, welcomes the steady nature of relations between France and the United Arab Emirates despite political changes and geopolitical upheaval.
It has been an eventful year for Xavier Chatel depuis sa nomination en qualité d’Ambassadeur de France aux Emirats arabes unis le 10 septembre 2020. Non seulement, il a dû affronter les conséquences de la pandémie mondiale de la Covid 19 dès sa prise de fonctions mais il a aussi été confronté à l’évacuation des réfugiés afghans via la base militaire française d’Abu Dhabi, en août 2021.
When the Houthi rebels in Yemen launched missile and drone attacks on the Emirates earlier this year, Xavier Chatel worked in unison with France’s military support to give reassures to the French community. And since the Dubai 2020 World Expo, inaugurated on October 1, 2021, the United Arab Emirates have been at the centre of the world stage, and Xavier Chatel has spared no effort to ensure that the Pavillon de la France embodies the very best of that nation’s skills and expertise.
Abu Dabi was therefore no minor challenge for this young ambassador, a graduate of ENA – famously known as the Léopold Senghor promotion - who already had solid experience in the diplomatic corps when he arrived. First joining the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2004, Xavier Chatel was a Negotiator at the UN Security Council on nuclear proliferation and disarmament issues (2007-2010), Political Advisor at the French Embassy in London (2010-2012) then Spokesperson for the Embassy (2012-2014), before holding the position of Deputy Director in charge of Egypt and the Levant at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2014-2017). He also served as Diplomatic Advisor to the French Minister of Armed Forces from May 2017 to the end of August 2020.
The French community in the United Arab Emirates, with its 30,000 or so residents, its 7 schools and strong references such as the Sorbonne Abu Dhabi, the Louvre Abu Dhabi, can therefore count on a very committed – and considerate – ambassador: witness the emotion invoked when he collected Juji, the bird belonging to the Afghan woman evacuated from Kabul by the French army, and who was lovingly cared for at the French residence until he was returned to the owner.
How would you sum what’s happened since your appointment as ambassador to the United Arab Emirates in September 2020?
Depuis un an et demi, nous n’avons pas chômé ! Le 3 décembre dernier, nous avons coordonné la visite du président de la République. Un contrat pour la vente de 80 avions Rafale aux Emirats a été signé. Ce contrat nous ancre pour plus de cinquante ans dans le pays. Nous avons également conclu 15 milliards d’euros d’accords hors commandes militaires. Nous avons aussi paraphé le renouvellement de l’accord de marque sur le Louvre Abu Dhabi pour une durée de dix ans. Cela pérennise cette coopération magnifique qui est une réussite sans exemple. Enfin, nous avons développé de multiples axes de coopération avec les Emirats.
We imagine you looking to the future and developing new partnerships between France and the United Arab Emirates…
We have sown many seeds for some great future projects. We can’t rest our laurels on just the existing projects. Our mission is to invent the future as well. We have already identified sectors with protentional such as health and music. We also have the ambition to accelerate the commercial trade triangle with India. This is fully in keeping with the spirit of France’s Indo-Pacific relations. Of course, we have the endorsement of all three capitals: Paris, Abu Dhabi and New Delhi. The prospects are good.
Is the role of ambassador all you imagined it to be before filling the shoes yourself?
I had diplomacy experience from joining the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2004. But the reality on a day-to-day basis is rather different. You’re in action every day. You are on the tarmac at a military base in front of a plane of distressed refugees. You are constantly negotiating to advance our economic and cultural interests. You remain close to the French population to be reassuring about the missile attacks. You are managing the pandemic with a workforce of 130 people who need to continue to provide public service. The role of representation is not what citizens envisage. There’s no frivolity. When you are in the public eye, you have to try to incite empathy; you have to project an image that make people want to visit our country, to invest in it, and to listen to it as well, because it demands respect it and its voice carries.
Le dynamisme économique de la communauté française aux Emirats arabes unis est loué par tous. Est-ce que votre rôle, c’est aussi l’accompagnement de ces sociétés grandes ou petites ?
C’est absolument fondamental et je suis heureux que vous citiez les petites sociétés. Car on oublie trop souvent que notre représentation économique n’est pas circonscrite aux seuls groupes du CAC 40. Nous sommes là pour aider toutes les entreprises françaises. Business France et la Chambre de Commerce jouent un rôle important. Ma porte est toujours ouverte quand des entrepreneurs ont des difficultés ou des doléances. Notre rôle consiste souvent à faire de la pédagogie avec les acteurs politiques et économiques locaux. J’étais récemment en rendez-vous avec un patron d’une très grande entreprise émirienne à Dubai. Il m’a confié que l’Ambassade de France était peut-être l’ambassade européenne la plus active dans le domaine du business. C’était, je l’avoue, un beau compliment. Nous sommes évidemment très fiers, par exemple, que la société française Keolis ait obtenu la maintenance du métro et du tramway de Dubaï pour une durée de quinze ans.
The Dubai 2020 World Exhibition was a great showcase for France, its skills, its culture... Is this a source of pride?
La France a bénéficié d’une grande visibilité. On ne peut que s’en féliciter. Nous avons essayé de faire rayonner ce que représente la France, son savoir-faire, sa présence politique, sa population, sa technologie, son innovation, ses paysages poétiques, son identité. Un million et demi de visiteurs – soit environ dix pour cent de la fréquentation totale de l’exposition universelle – ont visité le Pavillon de France. 400 délégations d’affaires ont aussi marqué l’événement de leur présence. Elles ont trouvé des clients, des perspectives à l’exportation, des investisseurs pour leur tour de table. L’Expo a par ailleurs été visitée par une noria de ministres français, qui ont manifesté ainsi l’intérêt de la nation pour cet événement et pour la belle représentation de notre pays: je pense notamment à Jean-Yves Le Drian (Ministre des Affaires étrangères), Franck Riester (Ministre délégué du Commerce extérieur), Florence Parly (Ministre des Armées), Bruno Le Maire (Ministre de l’économie), Alain Griset (Ministre délégué aux PME), Jean-Baptiste Djebbari (Ministre des Transports), Emmanuelle Wargon (Ministre déléguée chargée du logement) ou Roxana Maracineanu (Ministre déléguée chargée des Sports).
The evacuation of Afghan refugees from the French military base in Abu Dhabi was a defining moment of solidarity and humanity…
La chute de Kaboul aux mains des talibans est un événement qui a marqué notre action de manière indélébile. Toutes les équipes de l’ambassade ont été sur le pont jour et nuit pendant deux semaines pour évacuer près de 3000 personnes, dont de nombreux Afghans. C’est un véritable motif de fierté. Ce n’était pas simple. C’était même très lourd humainement. Mais nous avons la sensation d’avoir réalisé quelque chose de bien en faisant montre d’autant d’humanité qu’on le pouvait.
You praised the cooperation of the United Arab Emirates in the evacuation of Afghan nationals...
The United Arab Emirates responded immediately. They assured me of their help and support right away. For a sovereign country, accepting that a fleet of evacuating military aircraft were transporting nationals from a country at war through their territory, was not necessarily an easy task. They entrusted us and gave us all the authorizations. We were very transparent with them. We assured them that no refugee would leave the base. And we kept our word. Without the cooperation of the United Arab Emirates, nothing would have been possible.
How is Juji, the bird belonging to the young Afghan refugee that you agreed to collect?
Juji is fine. He’s fat and chubby. He’s very well treated. But I was very sad to have to announce to the bird’s owner that I could not return it to her. It belongs to an invasive species that the law does not allow to bring to France. But I often send pictures to the young Afghan owner. It was moving when she told me that so long as the bird was alive and so well treated, she would be eternally grateful.
In a few words, how can we summarize France’s relationship with the United Arab Emirates?
It’s an all-out relationship, first of all. There is almost nothing that is left out, whether we are talking about culture, education, business, defence, technology... And secondly it is a relationship of great consistency, through electoral changes and geopolitical developments. Very constant, no surprises. The Emirians, I think, like to work with us; and I also think that’s very reciprocal.
(interview completed February 2022)
