Yearbook 2017
United Arab Emirates. In February it was announced that the Saab Defense Group had made new deals with the United Arab Emirates, including another copy of the Saab Global Eye reconnaissance flight. Previously, the country has ordered two copies of the plane, worth SEK 10.7 billion. See ABBREVIATIONFINDER for frequently used acronyms and abbreviations related to as well as country profile of United Arab Emirates.
| Land area | 83,600 km² |
| Total population | 9,992,083 |
| Residents per km² | 119.5 |
| Capital | Abu Dhabi |
| Official language | Arabic |
| Income per capita | $ 68,600 |
| Currency | UAE dirham |
| ISO 3166 code | AE |
| Internet TLD | .ae |
| License plate | UAE |
| Telephone code | +971 |
| Time zone UTC | +4 |
| Geographic coordinates | 24 00 N, 54 00 O |
According to Countryaah.com, the United Arab Emirates was not included in the US entry ban in January, however, in March, a ban on passengers to bring electronic items such as computers or reading tablets into the cabin during direct flights from the capital Abu Dhabi to the United States. A total of ten airports in the Middle East and North Africa were included. In July, the ban was removed for Abu Dhabi.
In connection with the Qatari crisis during the summer, the United Arab Emirates, as well as several other surrounding countries, severed diplomatic relations with Qatar. All banking transactions to and from Qatari banks were also stopped. The reason for the crisis was that Qatar had been accused of supporting terrorist-stamped groups. In July, the United Arab Emirates was accused of being behind a hacker attack against Qatar. The purpose of the attack was to try to discredit Qatar’s leader Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani by attributing to him statements that pointed to just Qatari loyalty to terrorism, something they thus succeeded in.
Reduced oil revenues in October led the United Arab Emirates to double the price of tobacco and increased the price of soft drinks by 50%. Other oil-producing countries in the area also plan to introduce VAT at the turn of the year 2017/18.
Defense and security
The United Arab Emirates occupies a strategic position in the Persian Gulf. The country partially overlooks the Strait of Hormuz, one of the most important routes for controlling oil trade on a global scale. Only this factor can explain the relevance of the chokepoint in regional equilibria. On the other hand, the UAE belong to the Arabian Peninsula which constitutes a region of primary importance for regional balances in the Middle East.
During the war of 1990-91, Abu Dhabi sided with the US and Kuwait against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and, since then, has hosted US bases and troops on its territory. In particular, the port of Jebel Ali, near Dubai, is the only one in the region to reach such depth as to allow the docking of aircraft carriers. It is also the most used foreign port by the US. In the Emirates, in Abu Dhabi, France also inaugurated its first permanent naval base in the Persian Gulf in 2009. In March 2011, following the riots that affected the Bahrain regime, the UAE, together with Saudi Arabia, sent their troops under the aegis of the GCC in support of the Bahraini royal family.