Sharjah24 - WAM: His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, and Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of the friendly Republic of India, held on Friday a virtual summit, during which they discussed various aspects of the strategic partnership between the two countries and new prospects for its development.
At the beginning of the virtual summit, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed and Prime Minister Modi exchanged greetings and wishes for continued progress and prosperity for the two friendly countries and their peoples.
During the summit, the two sides discussed cooperation opportunities in various fields, especially development, investment, economic and health, in addition to advanced technology, artificial intelligence, renewable energy, food security, transport and other aspects that both nations consider to be priorities in their current and future development plans, within the framework of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, signed by the two countries in 2017 and their common interest in developing it, based on the strong historical relations.
His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed and India’s Prime Minister also reviewed a number of regional and international issues and exchanged views on strategic topics of common interest.
At the beginning of the summit, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said, "It is always a pleasure talking to you, whether it is over telephone, or through videoconferencing or in-person. I am glad that we could schedule this important interaction to keep up the momentum of India-UAE relations." He expressed his thanks and appreciation to His Highness for his keenness to strengthen friendly relations between the two countries, praising the solidarity shown by the UAE and its people when India was going through the tough times of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Allow me to express our strong, unequivocal condemnation on the recent terror attacks against UAE. We stand shoulder to shoulder with you against all forms of terrorism. I must also mention here that people across the width and breadth of India appreciated the swift and compassionate response from the UAE under your leadership to the families of the two deceased Indians. Let me reiterate our desire to work together to make our countries and the world more secure and safe for all," said the Indian Prime Minister.
He expressed his personal and sincere appreciation to His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed for the great care that the UAE gave to Indian citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic, and said, "More than 3 million Indians have chosen the UAE to be their second home, and I am sure that they are in their homeland under your leadership."
The Prime Minister praised the steps taken by the UAE towards the future to provide greater degree of comfort to expatriates in the UAE, adding that these socio-economic and legal reforms will further elevate the stature of the UAE among the comity of nations.
"India and the UAE are witnessing an important confluence of milestones this year. While you are celebrating the Year of the 50th and have laid out the vision for the next 50 years, India is celebrating 75 years of its independence and aiming to maximize the ‘Amrit Kaal’ (next 25 years) to reach greater heights by 2047, when we celebrate the 100th anniversary of our independence. Our futuristic vision and journey have a lot in common and let us leverage our complementary strengths," said the Indian Prime Minister.
He added that unprecedented negotiations between the two countries have led to the conclusion of Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in less than four months, adding that both countries share the same approach of converting crisis into an opportunity and synergizing complementarities and strengths. He expressed his confidence that this agreement will set out a new era in bilateral ties between the UAE and India, expressing his pleasure to join Sheikh Mohamed in witnessing the signing of CEPA.
The Prime Minister expressed his admiration for the UAE's projects and plans for the next 50 years, and said that India also intends to maximize its efforts for the next 25 years to realize the vision of ‘Swarnim Bharat’. He pointed out two important areas where the UAE and India can collaborate to realize their goals: "First, Start-ups. We need to encourage India and UAE based start-ups coming up in new and emerging technologies through joint-incubation programs, joint-financing, etc. Second, skills and mutual recognition of qualifications."
He added that the future would demand people with the right skills and to meet this need, both nations can jointly establish modern institutions of excellence and also work together on creating standards for mutual recognition of qualifications that would help both peoples.
He stressed that the common desire to work with like-minded partners opens up new frontiers of cooperation, expressing his confidence that the India-UAE-Israel-USA Quartet will enhance their collective goals, with a potential for a tripartite between India, UAE and France. "We can direct our officials to explore opportunities in this regard, and we will continue to cooperate in the UN Security Council on issues of global importance," he added.
He said that the UAE and India share the common sentiment on climate action to save the planet, commending the efforts made by the UAE in the field of renewable energy in recent times, and expressing pleasure that both countries are exploring opportunities for cooperation in renewables and technologies for low carbon Hydrogen.
He indicated that next year will be important for both nations as India will be hosting the G-20 Summit and the UAE will be the host of COP-28. The decisions at these summits could further shape climate action initiatives in both countries. He expressed hope that bilateral cooperation between the UAE and India in this regard will continue to strengthen.
He pointed out the importance of India and the UAE working together to create resilient societies to ensure that they are better prepared for the future, noting that good quality universal healthcare for all is an aspiration of his government. He added that, given the respective strengths and experiences of both countries, they should join together to take these benefits to friends in Africa and other places.
"To think beyond ourselves and do more for others is at the core of values and teachings propagated by UAE’s founding father Sheikh Zayed and Mahatma Gandhi. We must think of ways to strengthen our cultural bonds and ensure that their timeless wisdom reaches wider humanity," he added.
Finally, the Indian Prime Minister reiterated his thanks to His Highness Sheikh Mohamed for conducting this conversation, expressing his hope to see His Highness in person soon.
For his part, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed said, " I am pleased to meet you through this video call, and I thank you for the significant words with which you began the conversation. We share your opinion on the importance of our strategic relationship and our mutual interest in strengthening and developing it further in times to come."
His Highness pointed out that the signing of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement between the UAE and India in 2017 marked a historic shift in the course of their relations in the fields of trade, investment, energy and other vital areas, noting that non-oil trade between the UAE and India increased by 66% in 2021 compared to 2020.
His Highness added that the signing of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement today represents a qualitative leap in both countries' economic and developmental march and demonstrates a strong will to devote all available opportunities for the benefit of our peoples.
Sheikh Mohamed said that the agreement, which is the first of its kind, is among the economic projects set by the UAE for the next 50 years, which include concluding comprehensive economic partnership agreements with eight global strategic markets, foremost of which is the friendly nation of India.
His Highness expressed his thanks and appreciation for the role of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in strengthening relations between the two countries over the past years and his keenness to develop them further across various fields.
"All these great successes in the course of our bilateral relations could only have been achieved as a result of the close historical, cultural and social ties that exist between the UAE and India. This provides a strong basis for always moving forward to expand the basis of our common interests for the good of our people and fulfill their aspirations for development and prosperity," said Sheikh Mohamed.
His Highness reiterated his pleasure with this virtual meeting and wished friendly India continued progress and stability.
His Highness thanked the Indian Prime Minister and extended his thanks and appreciation to all the working teams of officials in the two countries whose efforts contributed to advancing bilateral relations and reaching this advanced level.
Finally, His Highness said he looked forward to flourishing work and constructive bilateral cooperation during the next stage and expressed confidence in more successes and joint achievements of the two friendly countries.
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