Relationship dossier
Australia
United Arab Emirates
Relationship assessment
Australia and the UAE maintain a strategic partnership spanning defence and expanding economic cooperation.
Australia toward United Arab Emirates
+40Australia established a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with the UAE in 2022 and signed a bilateral Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with it in 2024, creating frameworks for deeper government and economic cooperation.
United Arab Emirates toward Australia
+40The UAE established a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with Australia in 2022 and signed a bilateral Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with it in 2024, supporting closer economic and government ties.
Overall relationship
+40The relationship has a sustained strategic framework and concrete economic cooperation, including a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and a bilateral economic agreement. Defence ties add to this cooperative structure, although the scope and implementation of specific arrangements are less clear.
How to read these scores
Scores are rough judgments, not objective measurements or current verification. Directional scores describe government policy and conduct, not public opinion. The overall score is an independent estimate, never an average.
- −100
- Extreme sustained hostility
- −50
- Substantially adversarial
- 0
- Mixed or neutral, supported by knowledge
- +50
- Substantially cooperative
- +100
- Exceptionally close sustained partnership
“Not assessed” means there is no recorded score. Pair existence makes no claim about diplomatic recognition or established relations.
Relationship context
Overview
Australia and the United Arab Emirates have developed a close, practical relationship encompassing strategic dialogue, defence ties and economic cooperation. The governments established a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2022 and signed a bilateral Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement in 2024, giving the relationship a durable framework for cooperation.
Key developments
Australia and the UAE established a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
Australia and the UAE signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.
Major uncertainties
- The extent and implementation of defence cooperation under bilateral arrangements are unclear.
- The longer-term effects of the economic partnership agreement are not yet clear.