Abu Dhabi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday called on President of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and appreciated his role in taking the strategic ties between India and the UAE to greater heights.
Jaishankar, who was on a three-day visit, also conveyed personal greetings and warm wishes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Sheikh Mohamed, the ruler of Abu Dhabi.
“Thank HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan for receiving me. Conveyed the personal greetings and warm wishes of PM @narendramodi. Highly value his guidance in taking our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership to greater heights,” he said in a tweet.
Earlier, Jaishankar co-chaired the 14th India-UAE Joint Commission Meeting (JCM) along with his UAE counterpart Sheikh Abdulla bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.
Jaishankar arrived here on Wednesday on a three-day visit to the United Arab Emirates to review the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.
There has been a regular exchange of high-level interaction between India and the UAE this year.
Prime Minister Modi visited Abu Dhabi on June 28 and met UAE’s newly-appointed President and Ruler of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and the two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to further deepen and diversify the bilateral Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
Earlier, both leaders had also held a virtual summit on February 18 during which India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) was signed and a vision statement was adopted.
Both leaders also participated in the I2U2 summit held virtually on July 14. US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid also attended the summit. The new grouping is known as ‘I2U2’ with ‘I’ standing for India and Israel and ‘U’ for the US and UAE.
Bilateral trade in FY 2021-22 was about USD 72 billion. 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 USD 12 billion.
The Indian expatriate community is the largest ethnic community in the UAE constituting roughly about 35 per cent of the country’s population.
The UAE is the third-largest export destination of India (after the US and China) with an amount of nearly USD 16 billion for the year 2020-21.
For the UAE, India is the third-largest trading partner for the year 2020 with an amount of around USD 27.93 billion (non-oil trade).
(Except for the headline, the story has not been edited by Siasat staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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