The Diplomat
Last January 11, the agreement between Spain and the United Arab Emirates on mutual protection of classified information, signed in Abu Dhabi on October 3, 2018, came into force.
The objective of the agreement, as published last Saturday in the Official State Gazette (BOE) is to “guarantee the protection of classified information exchanged in the course of military, technical-military scientific-technical or any other type of cooperation, as well as classified information produced in the scope of such cooperation.”
The text is in line with the Defense Cooperation Agreement between the Governments of Spain and the United Arab Emirates, signed on October 21, 2012, and will not affect obligations resulting from international agreements signed by both countries.
As indicated by the Council of Ministers in June 2020, when it authorized the agreement and referred it to the Cortes, its ratification “will contribute to the preservation of Spain’s interests in its international relations.” “Spain’s international relations sometimes require the exchange of information that, because it affects security or national interests, must hold a degree of classification and be subject to special processes of use and handling to preserve that integrity,” the Executive stressed.
Specifically, in the field of the defense and armaments industry, manufacturing, assembly or supply contracts often involve the sharing of confidential devices or procedures, “making it necessary to establish rules under which States can safely share such classified information,” it continued.
Therefore, “this agreement constitutes an essential legal instrument that will favor the development of the Spanish defense industry and bilateral trade exchanges in this sector, which are currently reduced,” it concluded. The agreement with Emirates was signed in Abu Dhabi on October 3, 2018 by the then director of the National Intelligence Center, Felix Sanz Roldan, and by the United Arab Emirates Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Policy and Strategic Affairs, Major General Falah Mohammed Al Qahtani.
