Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today, 1 December, the United Arab Emirates marks its commemoration day, a recognition and celebration of the 50th anniversary of the formation of the UAE in 1971. As chair of the UAE-Australia parliamentary friendship group, I offer my congratulations to the President of the UAE, His Highness Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and the people of the UAE.

For the past 50 years we have developed a very warm, friendly and multifaceted relationship between our two nations. It's a relationship based on people-to-people contacts. It's a relationship built on wonderful trade and economic action between the two countries and nations. It's a relationship that goes to security and defence, importantly, in the Middle East. We look forward to another 50 years of the relationship between Australia and the UAE. In the meantime, congratulations to the UAE on achieving its 50th anniversary.

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