PM Modi & Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan held bilateral talks

Prime Minister Narendra Modi held bilateral talks with President of United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan at Abhu Dhani on Tuesday evening. Both leaders reiterated their commitment to further deepen and diversify the India-UAE Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. This was the first in-person meeting between the two leaders since August 2019 when Prime Minister visited Abu Dhabi. The main purpose of the visit was for Prime Minister to convey his personal condolences on the passing away of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan last month. He also congratulated Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on his election as the third President of the UAE and became the Ruler of Abu Dhabi. Prime Minister Modi thanked the UAE President for taking great care of the 3.5 million Indian community, especially during the COVID pandemic. He invited Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to visit India at an early date.
During their Virtual Summit on the 18th of February, both countries signed the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, which has since entered into force on the 1st of May. CEPA is expected to further boost trade and investment between both countries. Bilateral trade in 2021-22 was about 72 billion dollars. UAE is India’s third-largest trade partner and second-largest export destination. UAE FDI in India has continuously increased over the past few years and currently stands at over 12 billion dollars. During the virtual summit, both leaders had also released a Vision Statement which has laid the roadmap for bilateral cooperation in coming years in diverse areas including trade, investment, energy including renewable energy, food security, health, defence, skills, education, and culture and people-to-people ties. Both leaders expressed satisfaction that India and UAE continue to forge closer partnerships in these areas building on their close and friendly relations and historical people-to-people connections. India-UAE have a strong energy partnership which is now acquiring a new focus on renewable energy.