Sky no limit for IndiaUAE ties: Modi
India-UAE bilateral ties have blossomed in the past four years as never before, largely due to the “excellent rapport” that the leadership of the two countries share, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said, adding that he and Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan “regard each other as brothers”.
Modi said strengthening the close bilateral relationship had been “one of the most important foreign policy priorities” of his government. “I am happy that the leadership of the UAE attaches similar importance to relations with India... For this relationship, even the sky is not the limit,” he told the Khaleej Times.
He said being conferred the Order of Zayed - the country’s highest civilian honour - was a “testimony to our growing partnership” and “an honour for the entire Indian nation of 1.3 billion people”.
Asked if the personal connect with the UAE leadership had helped the relationship prosper, he said: “The Crown Prince and I regard each other as brothers. We have developed enormous goodwill and mutual respect. I believe that the excellent rapport between the two of us is an important driving force in realising the true potential of our relationship. “As a result, India-UAE bilateral relations have grown in the last four years as never before. The excellent cooperation we receive from the leadership, has enabled us to transform the relationship not only in energy and peopleto-people contact, but in trade, investments, defence, food and security cooperation.”
Modi said: “India has been a victim of cross-border terrorism for over four decades. Both India and the UAE have a common interest in ensuring that the antihumanity forces that shelter or promote terrorism in any way are compelled to give up their destructive policies. The UAE has shown full understanding of the strong steps we have taken against terrorism. We have exemplary cooperation to ensure mutual security.
“As far as Article 370 is concerned, our internal steps were taken in a completely democratic, open, transparent and constitutional manner. They were designed to end the isolation that had kept Jammu & Kashmir underdeveloped to serve the vested interests of a few. This isolation also allowed some of the youth to be misguided, get radicalised and take to violence and terrorism. We cannot afford to let these tendencies get any foothold in our harmonious society and distract us from the primary tasks of growth and development of the entire country. I appreciate the understanding the UAE and its leadership have shown for our steps and our reasons for taking them.”
Modi said the UAE’s “commitment to invest USD75 billion in India is a game changer. There has been a significant increase in flow of investments from the UAE during the last few years in areas ranging from ports, infrastructure and housing. But ours is not a relationship dominated by statistics. It is a strategic partnership based on shared vision and objectives.”
India’s partnership with the UAE is set to play a key role in its march towards its ambitious goal of becoming a USD5 trillion economy, Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansoori, UAE’s Minister of Economy said.
India is the UAE’s second largest trade partner today and the UAE has become India’s third largest trading partner, with the total non-oil trade between the two countries recorded at USD35.9 billion in 2018, Mansoori told Gulf News.
The RuPay card, India’s indigenous card scheme created by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) that offers a domestic, open-loop, multilateral system allowing all Indian banks and financial institutions to participate in electronic payments, was also officially launched in the UAE in the presence of PM Modi.