India-UAE ‘Historical Relationship’ Rooted In People-To-People Contact, Trade, Investments…: Indian Envoy

Dubai: Emphasising on India-UAE “historical relationship,” Indian Ambassador to UAE, Sanjay Sudhir, said on Wednesday that both countries’ relations are rooted in terms of people-to-people contact, trade, investments, education, or health.

“Although it is a very historical relationship and it goes back centuries, it has never been as strong as you know and is firmly rooted in so many areas, whether there’s people-to-people contact, trade, investments, education, health, you name it, and it is there in this relationship,” he said.

Sudhir further highlighted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in the UAE in July this year, noting that it was a bilateral visit.

Moreover, PM Modi visited the UAE in June 2022 as well. “So leaders have been meeting very regularly because there’s content; there’s so much content in the relationship.”

Sudhir also underscored the MoU signed between India and the UAE to establish the IIT-Delhi campus in Abu Dhabi.

“In the last visit of the Prime Minister, we signed an MoU to establish a campus of IIT-Delhi in Abu Dhabi. We also signed another MoU on linking our messaging systems,” he said.

Sanjay Sudhir also highlighted the agreement between both nations on settling trade in local currencies, the rupee and the Dirham.

The two leaders, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE and PM Modi, witnessed on July 15 the exchange of MoUs between the Reserve Bank of India and the UAE Central Bank for the establishment of a framework to promote the use of local currencies (INR-AED) for cross-border transactions and another one for bilateral cooperation on interlinking their payment and messaging systems.

Additionally, he also told ANI about the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) that was signed last year.

“The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) was signed last year in February, and we can also already see the good results. Last year, trade shot up by about 16 per cent, and I think CEPA has a big role to play in that.”

While answering about the expectations from the two leaders’ discussions this year, Sudhir told ANI that this visit is more in a multilateral context.

“The fact that there will be more than 130 leaders also gives an opportunity for our Prime Minister to interact with so many other world leaders here,” he added.

The World Climate Action Summit, the High-Level Segment of COP28, is scheduled from November 30 to December 12 under the UAE’s presidency in Dubai. The host country hopes for a deal on tripling renewable energy and doubling energy efficiency by 2030, focusing on phasing out fossil fuels, climate finance, and the Global Goal on Adaptation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the summit, having announced specific climate targets during COP26 in Glasgow. His visit includes bilateral meetings with leaders, and it’s at the invitation of UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.