The United Arab Emirates promised to set “a good example” for the Middle East on developing civilian nuclear energy as it signed a cooperation agreement on Monday with the United States. “We really want to be a good example for the region,” Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al-Nahayan told US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a signing ceremony ahead of a broader Arab-US meeting in Bahrain. “I know that you will be,” Rice replied. “The UAE is a very responsible partner.” The United States and Bahrain signed a similar atomic energy cooperation memorandum of understanding in Washington last month in what the US holds up as a model for the Middle East that contrasts with Iran's contested nuclear program. Amid concerns over Iran's nuclear aims and regional clout, the six oil-rich Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states decided in December 2006 to develop a joint nuclear technology program for peaceful uses. The members of the pro-Western GCC are the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Details of the UAE-US agreement were expected shortly. But in the deal last month, Bahrain promised to forgo sensitive fuel cycle technologies and rely on existing international markets for nuclear fuel, a contrasting approach to Iran's. The UAE issued a white paper on Sunday on potential plans to develop peaceful nuclear energy in which it also said it would import nuclear fuel for any reactor it builds and not enrich uranium at home. US President George W. Bush and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin stressed such an approach in the Joint Declaration on Nuclear Energy and Non-Proliferation that they issued on July 3 last year. The UN Security Council last month tightened sanctions against Tehran for its repeated defiance of ultimatums to suspend uranium enrichment activities which Washington fears will be used to build an atomic bomb. Iran insists its program is peaceful and says that it has every right under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to enrich uranium for civil purposes. France signed a deal to help the UAE develop nuclear energy for peaceful ends during a visit by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Abu Dhabi in January. Power demand in the UAE is surging as it uses record oil revenue to develop new industries and infrastructure. Abu Dhabi, the biggest of the UAE's seven emirates, will need to build additional power capacity this year to avoid a blackout in 2012, according to a study published last month by the Abu Dhabi Electricity & Water Co. Abu Dhabi started importing natural gas from Qatar this year because its own deposits are too high in sulpher, making it too costly to process for power plants. UAE power demand is rising 9 percent a year on an oil-fueled economic boom, Moody's Investors Service has reported. The six Gulf Cooperation Council states, which include Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar, asked the International Atomic Energy Agency last year to prepare a study on the viability of nuclear power for their region. The UAE is a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and would have to negotiate with the IAEA once it makes a firm decision to start using nuclear power. "There is a shift in the Gulf region when it comes to nuclear power generation, with sky rocketing energy demand and high prices," Eckart Woertz, an analyst with the Gulf Research Center, said in a telephone interview on Monday. "Gas is in short supply, and demand projections are high, hence the interest in alternative energies like nuclear, coal and solar." __
