India, UAE set $200 billion trade target by 2032
India and the United Arab Emirates on Monday unveiled plans for finalising a strategic defence partnership and a 10-year agreement for supply of 0.5 million tonnes of LNG per year, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed setting a target for doubling bilateral trade to $200 billion over the next six years.
Modi personally received the UAE leader, popularly known as MBZ, on his arrival in New Delhi with a hug and they travelled in the same vehicle to the Prime Minister’s residence – reflecting the importance attached by India to relations with the West Asian state, home to almost 4.5 million Indians and a key energy supplier.
Though the visit lasted only about three hours, Modi and MBZ reviewed bilateral collaboration in a wide range of areas and identified innovation, space and civil nuclear energy, including small modular reactors (SMRs), as sectors for future cooperation. They also directed their teams to interlink national payment platforms to enable efficient and cost-effective cross-border payments, according to a joint statement.
The two sides signed a letter of intent to work towards a “strategic defence partnership framework agreement”, which will expand joint work in defence industrial collaboration, defence innovation, training, doctrines, special operations, interoperability, cyber-security and counter-terrorism. Foreign secretary Vikram Misri said the move wasn’t a response to security-related developments in West Asia and would not lead to India’s involvement in conflicts in that region.