By K.V. Prasad
New Delhi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 13 arrived in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates to a warm welcome. It heralded a new chapter in the India-UAE bilateral relationship and aims to take the comprehensive strategic partnership to a higher trajectory.
Expressing gratitude for the ‘gracious welcome’ accorded to him and the team by UAE President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, PM Modi remarked that always experienced the warmth of coming home. “Whenever I come here to meet you, I always feel I have come to meet my family. We have met five times in the last seven months, it is very rare and reflects our close relationship”.
Addressing the UAE President as ‘Brother’ during the delegation level talks, the two leaders reviewed the bilateral relationship and discussed new areas of cooperation while welcoming the deepening of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership across several sectors including trade and investment, digital infrastructure, fintech, energy, infrastructure, culture and people-to-people ties.
Today I met with Indian Prime Minister @narendramodi in Abu Dhabi, where we discussed ways to advance bilateral ties across diverse fields such as economy, investment, trade, energy, and technology. The UAE and India are united by our shared keenness to develop the bilateral… pic.twitter.com/a7jQoVAZxy
— محمد بن زايد (@MohamedBinZayed) February 13, 2024
The two leaders also held one-on-one talks and witnessed the exchange of several agreements and Memoranda of Understanding, a Ministry of External Affairs release said. The leaders also discussed the strengthening of energy partnership and appreciated that in addition to the UAE being among the largest sources of crude and LPG, India is now entering into long term contracts for LNG.
Agreements and MoUs
The documents exchanged on Tuesday included a Bilateral Investment Treaty; an Intergovernmental Framework Agreement between India and UAE on the India-Middle East Economic Corridor; an Agreement on inter-linking domestic debit/credit cards – RuPay (India) with JAYWAN (UAE); and, Agreement on interlinking of the instant payment platforms – UPI (India) and AANI (UAE).
The Bilateral Investment Treaty will be the key to enable promotion of investments in both countries. This treaty comes on the heels of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between the two countries signed two years ago. CEPA is the first bilateral trade accord concluded by the UAE and India’s first bilateral trade agreement in the West Asia and North Africa region.
India-UAE CEPA is a wide-ranging agreement, covering all aspects of India’s economic engagement with the UAE including Trade, Investments, Healthcare, Digital Trade, Government Procurement, IPR etc. CEPA, which came into force in May 2022, brought about new opportunities in bilateral trade and it is expected to increase the bilateral trade in goods to US $100 billion within five years and trade in services to US $15 billion. Currently, India-UAE bilateral trade is around $ 85 billion.
FinTech forays takes roots
Setting into motion a new foray in Fintech, both leaders witnessed a transaction made using the JAYWAN card which is based on the digital RuPay credit and debit card stack. India and the UAE entered into two agreements, one interlinking RuPay and JAYWAN, an important step in building financial sector cooperation and raising the level of acceptance of RuPay across UAE. The other agreement to interlink instant payment platform, UPI and AANI (UAE) will permit seamless cross-border transactions between the two countries., The step follows the July 2023 MoU interlinking payment and messaging system.
IMEC enabler framework pact
Another significant development was the Intergovernmental Framework Agreement on the India-Middle East Economic Corridor (IMEC). It will take forward previous understanding and cooperation in this regard with the objective of both countries working to further regional connectivity. The IMEC was announced on the sidelines of the G-20 New Delhi Summit last September. On his part, PM Modi praised the vision of the UAE President and predicted that it will provide momentum to growth which will benefit future generations.
The MoU on cooperation in Digital Infrastructure Projects will create a framework for a wide ranging cooperation including investment cooperation in this sector and also allow sharing of technical knowledge, skills and expertise while the one in the field of electrical interconnection and trade holds the promise of opening new areas of collaboration in the field of energy, energy security and energy trade.
Ahead of the visit, RITES Limited signed an agreement with Abu Dhabi Ports Company and Gujarat Maritime Board with Abu Dhabi Ports Company. These would help in building port infrastructure and further enhance connectivity between the two countries.
PM to inaugurate BAPS temple, first in the country and address community
The Prime Minister thanked President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan for his personal support and for his graciousness in granting the land for the construction of the BAPS Temple in Abu Dhabi. Both sides noted that the BAPS Temple is a celebration of UAE-India friendship, deep-rooted cultural bonds and an embodiment of the UAE’s global commitment to harmony, tolerance and peaceful coexistence. PM Modi also thanked the President for extending support for the ‘Ahlan Modi’ an event organised in the capital by the strong 3.5 million Indian community
On the concluding day of his two-day sojourn to UAE, PM Modi will be delivering a keynote address at a gathering of world leaders at the World Government Summit in Dubai on Wednesday. This was at the invitation of the Vice President, Prime Minister, Defence Minister and Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum. Besides, the address PM Modi would hold discussions with the Prime Minister on the margins of the Summit with the objective of strengthening bilateral multifaceted ties with Dubai.
Later on Wednesday, PM Modi will leave for Doha, Qatar and meet the Amir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. India and Qatar enjoy historically close and friendly relations and these ties have grown in all spheres including high level political exchanges, growing trade and investment between two countries, strengthening of energy partnership, and cooperation in culture and education. Qatar hosts around 8,40,000 Indians.
On Monday, the country released eight Indian naval personnel who were arrested on charges of espionage, although neither country made charges against them public. Some two months ago, these personnels’ death sentence was commuted to prison term.
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