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The India-UAE Partnership Continues to Scale Newer Heights
The success of India-UAE relationship is a tale of what a strong bonhomie between the leaders with a shared vision could achieve
- PUBLISHED: Sun 26 Jan 2025, 11:45 AM
- By:
- Sunjay Sudhir
Ten years ago, in 2015, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, paid his first visit to the UAE, which happened to be the first by an Indian Prime Minister in 34 years. That significant visit heralded a new era in the India-UAE relationship. Since then there have been multiple high level visits between both sides. In fact, in last 18 months alone the two countries had six top-level visits. As a mark of generational continuity, Sheikh Khaled, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, visited India last year. Today, India and the UAE have forged strong ties across domains of trade, connectivity, education, high technology, energy, critical minerals and so on, elevating the relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. The success of India-UAE relationship is a tale of what a strong bonhomie between the leaders with a shared vision could achieve.
In January 2024, President His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan participated as the chief guest at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit. As his carcade departed from the airport, more than 50,000 people, lined up across the highway, accorded him a resounding welcome. In a rare honour, His Highness addressed a gathering of 4,000 delegates at the summit. Earlier, in December 2023, Prime Minister Modi participated in COP 28 in UAE. He was the only world leader to have addressed the plenary of COP 28. In February 2024, Prime Minister Modi, for a second time, participated as the Guest of Honour at World Government Summit – 2024, held in Dubai – again, a rare honour. These special gestures speak volumes about the warmth and energy of the India-UAE partnership.
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The trade and economic partnership between the two countries was bolstered by the signing of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in 2022. India was the first country with which UAE signed CEPA. Following CEPA, the two sides signed the Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) in 2024. This made UAE the only country with which India has an active CEPA and BIT. The ground-breaking of Bharat Mart at Jebel Ali last year was another important milestone, which will allow us to benefit from each other's strengths and complementarities. The two sides are also working on the Virtual Trade Corridor envisaged as a part of India-Middle East-Europe- Economic Corridor. The results of these transformational efforts are clearly visible – surging trade and investments between both sides and deepening across sectors.
The two countries are also committed to foster digital and financial connectivity. India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is expanding its footprint in the UAE. UAE's “JAYWAN” national credit and debit card system is modelled on the India's RuPay stack and has been developed by the National Payments Corporation of India. With the Rupee-Dirham agreement in place, the two sides will increasingly settle cross-border trade transactions in their respective local currencies. The ever-growing India-UAE partnership is expanding into many new areas of collaboration. In 2024, we signed agreements in the field of peaceful uses of nuclear energy and cooperation in polar regions. The two sides are partnering in the futuristic areas of Green Hydrogen, Supercomputers, Genome among others.
The establishment of the IIT Delhi-Abu Dhabi was a landmark achievement of both sides in the field of education. The other iconic Indian public institutions, Indian Institute of Management (IIM) and the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) will soon have their first overseas campuses in the UAE. Indian private institutions are also looking towards UAE to expand their presence abroad, with latest one being the Symbiosis university that started its campus in Dubai last month.
Today, Indian community in the UAE is more than 4 million strong. Many of the second or third generation Indians call the UAE their second home or the only home they perhaps know. Indeed, this strong people-to-people connect is the real driving force that keeps the relationship glued at the fundamental block level, providing a fertile ground for an increased economic or government to government cooperation. An important symbol of people-to-people ties between the two countries is BAPS Temple in Abu Dhabi that continues to mesmerise the world with not just its architectural brilliance but also its message of peace and tolerance – core values shared by both India and UAE.
As India and its people celebrate the 76th Republic day, they cherish India's myriad achievements with deep pride, one of which is certainly India's strong partnership with the UAE. The last decade, since the first visit of Prime Minister Modi to the UAE, has been truly transformational for our ties. Driven by the visionary guidance of our leadership and our peoples' aspirations, this partnership is poised to achieve newer heights.
Sunjay Sudhir is Ambassador of India to the UAE.