Mirage contract between France and Abu Dhabi to be signed soon

Sources close to the French Presidential Palace said that chief of staff for the United Arab Emirates Army, Sheikh Muhammad Bin Zayed al-Nahyan, has stressed Thursday to French President Jacques Chirac that final touches concerning "Mirage" contract announced by the UAE last December will be effective "very soon."

During his meeting with the French President on Thursday in Paris, Sheikh Muhammad was quoted as saying that "final touches" on an agreement to buy 30 mirage planes 2000 and renovating another 33 Mirage 2000-9 planes will be endorsed very soon.

The French President, on the other hand, talked to the UAE Sheikh about the importance Paris pins on "bilateral relations" and " cooperation in the field of defense with the United Arab Emirates."