To bolster economic ties, the UAE on Monday agreed to enhance its investments in India to $75 billion (about Rs 5 lakh crore) including through a dedicated infrastructure fund, while the two nations will also raise bilateral trade by 60 per cent in the next five years.
The two countries also agreed for strategic partnership in the energy sector, including through UAE’s participation in petroleum sectors in India and tie-ups in the third countries.
While deciding to elevate India-UAE relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Zayed AI Nahyan also agreed to facilitate participation of Indian companies in infrastructure development in the UAE.
As per a joint statement issued after meeting between the two leaders, they resolved to “further promote trade between the two countries, and use their respective locations and infrastructure for expanding trade in the region and beyond.”
The economic cooperation would be enhanced “with the target of increasing trade by 60 per cent in the next five years.” India-UAE trade, valued at $180 million per annum in the 1970s, is today around $ 60 billion, making the UAE, India’s third-largest trading partner for the year 2014-15 after China and the US.
Acknowledging that India is emerging as the new frontier of investment opportunities with the new initiatives by the Government to facilitate trade and investment, the two countries decided to “encourage the investment institutions of UAE to raise their investments in India, including through the establishment of UAE-India Infrastructure Investment Fund, with the aim of reaching a target of $75 billion”.
This would “support investment in India’s plans for rapid expansion of next generation infrastructure, especially in railways, ports, roads, airports and industrial corridors and parks. UAE also agreed to help Indian companies to invest in infrastructure development in the Gulf country,” the joint statement said.
Earlier in the day, Modi addressed business leaders from the UAE and said India offers investment potential to the tune of $1 trillion and invited them to invest in the country.
Besides, the UAE will tap “India’s expertise in Small and Medium Enterprises to create a vibrant industrial base in UAE, which could also be of benefit to Indian enterprises.”
Elevating their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership, India and the UAE also came down heavily on countries sponsoring terrorism against other States in
what is seen as an oblique reference to Pakistan.
Denouncing and opposing terrorism in all forms and manifestations and asking all states to abandon the use of terrorism against other countries, the two sides also called for dismantling of terrorism infrastructures and bringing perpetrators of terrorism to justice.
Agreeing to boost bilateral cooperation in counter-terrorism operations, Intelligence-sharing and capacity building, Modi and the Crown Prince also agreed to coordinate efforts to counter radicalisation and misuse of religion by groups and countries for inciting hatred and justifying terrorism for pursuing political aims.
They also agreed to strengthen cooperation in law enforcement, anti-money laundering, drug trafficking, other trans-national crimes and extradition arrangements.
Asked by reporters whether the issue of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and his properties in UAE came up for discussion, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar did not give a direct reply, saying larger issues and trends having bearing on the countries figured in the talks.
Modi and the Crown Prince agreed to cooperate in peaceful uses of Nuclear energy including in areas like safety, health, agriculture and science and technology.
The joint statement said despite natural synergies and boundless potential for a natural strategic partnership, relations in the past have not kept pace with the exponential growth in relations between their people or the promise of the partnership.
The two sides also agreed to strengthen cooperation in education, science and technology, renewable energy, arid agriculture, desert ecology, urban development and advanced healthcare.
They decided to promote cooperation in space, including in joint development and launch of satellites, ground-based infrastructure and space application.
Modi welcomed UAE’s plan to set up the West Asia’s first Space Research Centre at AI Ain and plans to launch a Mars Mission in 2021.
The Prime Minister thanked UAE for its support for India’s candidature for permanent membership of a reformed United Nations Security Council.
The two sides felt people-to-people relations were at the heart of India-UAE relations and both Governments will continue to nurture these relations and ensure the welfare of their citizens, especially the workers, in each other’s country, as also work together to prevent human trafficking, it said. An estimated 2.6 million Indians are living in the UAE.
Modi thanked the Crown Prince for his decision to allot land for construction of a temple in Abu Dhabi. On Sunday, Modi visited the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, the third largest in the world and also interacted with Indian workers.
On Sunday night, he discussed investment opportunities during a dinner hosted by the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority that controls the $800 billion sovereign wealth fund of the oil-rich Gulf country.