PM Modi’s UAE visit: How New Delhi-Abu Dhabi ties have evolved since 2015, and what the future holds
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will receive the UAE’s highest civilian award, the Order of Zayed, which is named after the founding father of the Gulf nation.
Key Highlights
- India-UAE trade stands at about $52 billion, making India the UAE’s largest trading partner.
- In 2015, Modi became the first Indian PM to visit the UAE in more than three decades.
- An estimated 3 million Indians work in the UAE.
After a crucial bilateral visit to France, Prime minister Narendra Modi is heading to the Gulf where he will visit the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain between August 23 and 25. The PM's visit to the Gulf region comes amid rising tensions between India and Pakistan, with Islamabad lashing out at New Delhi for ending the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and trying to internationalise the Kashmir issue at every possible forum.
While furthering strategic and geopolitical ties will be a crucial part of his UAE and Bahrain visits, Modi will also seek to enhance economic ties with the Gulf states.
In the UAE, Modi will meet Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. The Indian PM will receive the UAE’s highest civilian award, the Order of Zayed, named after the founding father of the Gulf nation.
India and the UAE established diplomatic ties in 1972, and have come a long way since then.
Economic ties between India and UAE
India-UAE trade stands at about $52 billion, making India the UAE’s largest trading partner. Meanwhile, the UAE is India’s third-largest trading partner. This is a quantum leap from the 1970s when bilateral trade between the two nations stood at $180 million.
Business ties between the two countries encompass energy cooperation, trade investments by the UAE in India, and businesses and investments spearheaded by Indian expats in the UAE.
The UAE accounts for approximately 8 percent of India’s oil imports, making it the fifth-largest supplier of crude to India. The partnership has, however, evolved from being simply buying and selling to one with strategic dimensions. In this regard, an MoU was signed between an Indian Consortium comprising ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPRL) and Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) to acquire 10 per cent participating interest in the Lower Zakum, an offshore Concession, when PM Modi visited the UAE last year.
During the visit of UAE foreign minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan to India in June last year, a trilateral energy cooperation framework deal was signed by ADNOC and Saudi Aramco for investing in the development of the $44 billion Ratnagiri Refinery and Petrochemicals Complex (RRPCL), which is coming up in Maharashtra.
Major Indian firms such as L&T, ESSAR and TCIL have invested and set up base in the UAE.
Ties get a boost in Modi era
In 2015, Modi became the first Indian PM to visit the UAE in more than three decades. Since then the PM and the Crown Prince have met several times. Besides trade and investment, security has also become an important component of relations since 2015. During that visit, the ties were elevated to the status of a ‘comprehensive strategic partnership’.
Delhi and Abu Dhabi have in a joint statement in the past slammed efforts by states to use religion for justifying, supporting and sponsoring terrorism directed against other countries. There is little doubt at who the statement was referring to.
With Modi visiting the Gulf nation again, India will be counting on similar support from the UAE as New Delhi counters Islamabad’s diplomatic offensive and propaganda following the NDA government's dramatic decision to quash the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and fully integrate the region with the rest of the country, a move which is an internal matter of India.
Indian community in UAE
According to the International Organisation of Migration figures, there are more than 3 million Indians in the UAE. Of these 15-20 per cent are believed to be professionals, 20 per cent are non-professionals white-collar employees and the remaining are blue-collar workers.
Thanks to the remittance system, Indian expatriate workers in the UAE send billions of dirhams back to India every year.
Cultural ties between the two nations go back many decades and have been enhanced in recent years.
More than 1,000 direct flights per week connect various parts of UAE and India. Both Indian businesspersons and tourists flock to Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the millions every year.