NEW DELHI: India is exploring new areas of cooperation with the UAE, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Monday after the foreign minister’s first official trip to Abu Dhabi since his re-appointment.
India-UAE relations have grown considerably since 2022, when they signed a landmark comprehensive economic partnership agreement to boost two-way trade and investment.
On Sunday, External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar visited Abu Dhabi to meet with his Emirati counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, where they reviewed bilateral relations and discussed new opportunities.
“Both ministers reviewed the multifaceted India-UAE Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and expressed happiness at the substantive progress in diverse areas of bilateral cooperation,” the external affairs ministry said in a statement.
“They also discussed new areas with untapped potential for further enhancing collaboration.”
Jaishankar’s UAE trip, which came within two weeks of his re-appointment, “signifies the importance India attaches to its relations with the country,” the ministry said.
“The visit marks the continuation of high-level contact between the two countries.”
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who won a historic third term as the country’s prime minister earlier this month, has visited the UAE three times, the ministry said, while UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan has visited the South Asian nation twice.
Kabir Taneja, a fellow at the Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation, said Jaishankar’s visit indicates the focus of India’s foreign policy in Modi’s new term.
“It is very interesting. The first state visit to India was by the Bangladesh prime minister, and the first visit of the Indian foreign minister was to the UAE. It shows the centrality of the UAE in India’s policy towards West Asia,” he told Arab News, referring to Bangladeshi premier Sheikh Hasina’s trip to New Delhi over the weekend.
“It shows that India has really put the UAE on the mantle so to speak as a strategic partner, trade partner, as an economic partner … I think it’s a very strong positioning of the bilateral (relations) between the two countries.”
