The United Arab Emirates embassy in Washington D.C - Essay Example

Due The United Arab Emirates (UAE) embassy in Washington D.C. was established in 1974, in effect, beginning a formal diplomatic relations between the two nations, the UAE and the United states. Like other friendly nations the world over, the two countries share almost similar mission statement, with the improvement of ties in key areas of development hoisted atop the agenda in both ends. Indeed as envisaged in the very inaugural diplomatic engagements, the relations between UAE and the United States (USA) has grown in leaps and bounds, registering positive progress in a wide range of fields, notably on economic, military, social as well as political fronts. More recent efforts have, however, broaden the areas of partnerships to include academic research, business, sports, culture, energy and health care. UAE is considered a major economic and political ally of the United States in the Middle East, more particularly with regards to peace and stability of the Gulf region, the encouragement of global free trade and investment, energy supplies to the world markets, and above, in combating terrorism in the Middle East and the world at large. The country, UAE, is but the largest exporter to the United States among the countries of the Arabian Gulf, with the exports hitting an all high of approximately $22 billion in 2012. Economic ties between the two nations have yielded beneficial effects on both sides; supporting numerous developments such as those in the construction industry in UAE, while generating a substantial amount of employment in the United States. In the year 2013 alone, for instance, USA exports to the UAE provided jobs for roughly 1,350 individuals in Washington D.C. On the security front, the giant nations, the UAE and the USA, have and continue to collaborate, with their relations gaining momentum each and very give minute. To be sure, UAE is the only country in the Gulf region that has provided military assistance and cooperation to the USA force in its five military operations, namely the Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia, Bosnia-Kosovo and the Gulf wars. In addition, the UAE and the United States supports each other’s efforts in fighting terrorism and providing peace around the world, and so was the foundation for the bilateral Defense Cooperation Agreement signed in 1994, permitting the United States to base troops and their military artillery within UAE federation borders, particular, in Jebel Ali port, in Dubai, providing waters deep enough to berth the aircraft carriers of the US naval forces. UAE and the USA have also increased their partnership in the social and culture sectors, with academic being latest in such fronts; Universities such as New York University, Boston University and other USA institutions initiating different projects in the UAE. The US health care institutions such as Johns Hopkins, Cleveland Clinic and May Clinic are also cutting a niche for themselves by in the UAE by exchanging ideas and/or best practices in health care services. Noteworthy, the UAE was but among the countries that come in handy with to support the victims and reconstruct the damages caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2011, and indeed help rebuild Joplin school in Missouri and provide new laptops to the affected students. The very UAE-US relations was well elaborated by Yousef Al-Otaiba, the UAE ambassador in Washington D.C saying: “The relationship between the United Arab Emirates and the United States has been positive and productive for more than 40 years. In the past decade alone, we have witnessed an exponential growth in our military, security, economic, and cultural relations” (UAE Embassy). As an important institution task with spearheading UAE-US diplomatic ties, the UAE embassy in Washington D. C. divides its budget without favor among its departments in accordance with the established rules and regulations and workload requirements. All departments are considered important, thus, are al actively engaged in the process of improving and strengthening the ties between the UAE and United States. Every department in the embassy has unique roles and sub-objectives, aimed at contributing to the main objective of the embassy of a stronger and a reliable partnership between the two nations. The political department, where I was fortunate enough to have secured an internship opportunity, is divided into two sections, the Congressional Affairs section and the Think Tanks section. The Congressional Affairs section is responsible for attending Congressional hearings and briefing them on issues that matter concerning the relations between the two nations. More specifically, the Congressional Affairs section seeks to strengthen the political relationship between UAE and the United States. The Think Tank section has almost a similar role to the Congressional Affairs section, focusing mainly on positional strategies on international events and/or issues such as the Iran Nuclear debate as well the unpredicted actions and threats of ISIS in Iraq and Syria among other international or national concerns that threatens the UAE-US relations of UAE, and/or peace and security hemispherical locations of both countries. The two sections complement to each other in their functions, with their main objectives converging on strengthening the political relationship between UAE and the USA and protecting them from threats that may shake support for each other’s interests at home and beyond. Besides their daily functions enumerated above, the Congressional Affairs and the Think Tanks sections also work in facilitating exchange and scholarship programs for students from both countries, which include attending and/or arranging events, policy talks about the UAE background relationship with the USA. On the same academic front, the department supports exchange delegation, answer question about the UAE policies and streamline government to governed information as provided for by the agreement that brought the two nations together. More generally, the Political Department is but an important component of the embassy, tasked with a unique political role of ironing issues that may result into a misunderstanding between UAE and the United States; it aims at viewing UAE in the best possible light to the US government and its citizen and report and/or advice the embassy, and indeed the UAE government on issues that requires their input and/or support. Work cited UAE Embassy, Washington D. C. UAE-US Relations. UAE Embassy, 2014. Web. 28 July 2014. Read More