External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar will embark on an official visit to the United Arab Emirates on Sunday (June 23), where discussions surrounding the comprehensive strategic partnership shared between the two allies will prominently be held.
Speaking of the details of the visit, the Ministry of External Affairs said that the EAM will embark on an official visit to the UAE today, where he will have a meeting with his UAE counterpart Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan on wide-ranging issues pertaining to the India-UAE partnership, along with the two also scheduled to exchange thoughts on issues concerning to regional and global developments.
Significantly, during the high-level meeting, the two leaders, Jaishankar and Al Nahyan, are expected to deliberate on the overall tensions in the Middle East, exacerbated by the war in Gaza.
Further, the MEA also announced that the EAM's visit to the UAE will also provide an opportunity for both allies (India and the UAE) to review the entire spectrum of a comprehensive strategic partnership shared.
It is pertinent to note that the bilateral ties shared between India and the UAE have witnessed a significant surge in the last few years.
Significantly, following the landmark visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the UAE in August 2015, which elevated the bilateral relations shared between the two countries to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, the two countries have witnessed strong cooperation in terms of economic partnership.
Earlier, in a statement released, the MEA, elaborating on the details of India-UAE ties, said, "Growing India-UAE economic and commercial relations contribute to the stability and strength of a rapidly diversifying and deepening strategic partnership between the two countries. Both sides are striving to further strengthen these ties for mutual benefit. The India-UAE trade, valued at US$180 million per annum in the 1970s, reached US$85 billion in 2022–23, making the UAE India’s third largest trading partner for the year 2022–23 after China and the US. Moreover, the UAE is the second-largest export destination for India (after the US), with an amount of nearly
US$ 31.61 billion for the years 2022–23."
Moreover, apart from economic partnership, both countries also enjoy strong cooperation at the United Nations. Both countries are also currently part of several plurilateral platforms such as BRICS, I2U2 (India-Israel-UAEUSA), and UFI (UAE-France-India) Trilateral, etc. The UAE was invited as a guest country to the G20 Summit held under India’s presidency.
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