Political changes in India ‘won’t affect ties with UAE’
Indians in UAE make up world’s second-largest foreign-born population in another country, Tharoor says
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Indian expatriates in the UAE, whose numbers top three million, make up the world’s second-largest foreign-born population in another country, a renowned Indian author and politician said on Friday evening.
“If you look at any country in the world and look at the number of foreign-born people in that country, the record is held by 11 million Mexicans in the US; the second is the Indians in the UAE,” said Dr Shashi Tharoor, a prominent leader within India’s Congress party and a Member of Parliament.
Author of 18 books and one of the best-known Indian writers worldwide, Tharoor was talking about all aspects of the strategic partnership between the UAE and India at an event organised by the National Media Council (NMC) at the Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF).
The Congress politician said no sector of the UAE economy was untouched by the presence of Indians. Tharoor, however, made it clear that possible political changes in India would not affect the long-standing UAE-India relations. ■
“As the chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on External Affairs, I can say that there is no Congress foreign policy or BJP [Bharathiya Janata Party] foreign policy but only an Indian foreign policy.”
Remittances, investment
Noting that strategic IndiaUAE relations had become crucial in recent years, Tharoor highlighted the UAE’s prominent role as a source of foreign remittances and investments to India and ties in most advanced sectors such as the India-UAE Artificial Intelligence Bridge.
Given India’s historical relations with the Middle East, Indians have contributed significantly to the economic development of the entire region. The region provides 60 per cent of India’s crude oil imports and trade relations are worth $200 billion (Dh734.6 billion) annually.
“I must say the economic prosperity and social stability of the UAE is the most effective argument against the theory of clashes of civilisation and all other stereotypes about this part of the world,” Tharoor said.