India, UAE ink key deals to strengthen 12U2 bloc

India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Tuesday finalised four agreements, including in food processing and renewable energy, to take forward cooperation within the 12U2 grouping as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed AI Nahyan held talks on bolstering bilateral ties.

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The visit of the ruler of Abu Dhabi, popularly known as MBZ, is being seen as one of the highlights of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in Gandhinagar and is expected to strengthen trade and investment ties following the signing of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in February 2022.

In a special gesture, Modi personally received the UAE President at the Ahmedabad airport, and the two leaders travelled in a motorcade to the venue of their meeting. Hundreds of people lined both sides of the route as the roadshow covered several kilometres in Ahmedabad.

In the past, Modi has held similar roadshows in Ahmedabad with world leaders such as Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former US president Donald Trump, and late Japanese premier Shinzo Abe. This was the first time Modi hosted the leader of a West Asian country in his home state of Gujarat in such a fashion.

The two sides finalised four memorandums of understanding during the meeting between Modi and MBZ, including one between the UAE's investment ministry and India's renewable energy ministry on investment cooperation in renewable energy and another between the UAE investment ministry and India's food processing ministry on investment cooperation to develop food parks.

Another MoU between the UAE's investment ministry and India's health ministry will facilitate investment cooperation for innovative health care projects, while DP World, a multinational logistics company based in Dubai, and the Gujarat government concluded an MoU on developing green and sustainable ports.