India, UAE come closer, set goal to double trade

India and the United Arab Emirates on Monday unveiled plans to finalise a strategic defence partnership and a 10-year agreement for the supply of 0.5 million tonnes of LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) per year, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UAE president Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed setting a target to double bilateral trade to $200 billion over the next six years.

- Rezaul H Laskar

Modi personally received the UAE leader, popularly known as MBZ, on his arrival in New Delhi with a hug and they travelled in the same vehicle to the prime minister's residence reflecting the importance India attaches to relations with the West Asian state, home to almost 4.5 million Indians and a key energy supplier.

Though the visit lasted only about three hours, Modi and MBZ reviewed bilateral collaboration in a wide range of areas and identified innovation, space and civil nuclear energy, including small modular reactors (SMRs), as sectors for future cooperation. They also directed their teams to interlink national payment platforms to enable efficient and cost-effective cross-border payments, according to a joint statement.

The two sides signed a letter of intent to work towards a "strategic defence partnership framework agreement", which will expand joint work in defence industrial collaboration, defence innovation, training, doctrines, special operations, interoperability, cybersecurity and counter-terrorism. Foreign secretary Vikram Misri said the move wasn't a response to security-related developments in West Asia and would not lead to India's involvement in conflicts in that region. Pointing to existing defence cooperation between the two sides, including joint exercises and high-level consultations, Misri said the proposed agreement will expand joint work in a number of areas.

"We plan to look at defence industrial cooperation, partnerships in advanced technology, as well as expanding linkages in training, education, perhaps training between the special forces of the two countries," he said. "I would characterise it as a natural evolution from the already considerable defence cooperation between the two countries, and not necessarily a response to any specific event that may have taken place in the region..."