29 august 2024 : Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Khaled bin Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is effectively effectively next in line for the leadership of the United Arab Emirates, is set to visit India early next month to bolster trade and strategic ties, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
Sheikh Khaled, who is expected to be in India on September 8, will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the country’s top leadership during the visit, which the people cited above said would focus on building futuristic ties over the coming decades.
Though it is unlikely that any agreements will be signed during the visit, the two sides are expected to reaffirm their commitment to building even closer and stronger ties in areas ranging from trade to security, the people said on condition of anonymity.
The visit, which is yet to be announced by both sides, will follow a string of high-profile visits from both sides in recent years. Modi has visited the UAE seven times since 2015 as his government worked assiduously to forge closer partnerships with key West Asian powers. UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, popularly known as MBZ, last visited India in September 2023.
MBZ named his son Sheikh Khaled, 42, as crown prince of Abu Dhabi in March 2023, effectively making him his likely successor as president of the second largest Arab economy. Since then, Sheikh Khaled has rarely travelled abroad, visiting Malaysia in May last year.
“The visit is about looking at the future of this strategic relationship. Ties between India and the UAE are on a very strong footing now and it will be more about building on that base, looking towards the coming decades and forging closer ties with the future leadership of the Emirates,” one of the people cited above said
Abu Dhabi has held the presidency of the UAE since the founding of the federation by Sheikh Mohammed’s father in 1971. Abu Dhabi is the political capital of the federation of seven emirates because of its immense oil reserves.
Since the India-UAE comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) came into force in 2022, two-way trade has grown to almost $85 billion in FY23. The UAE is India’s third largest trade partner after the US and China and India’s second-largest export destination. India is also the UAE’s second-largest trade partner, accounting for 9% of its total foreign trade and 14% of non-oil exports.
According to official estimates, the value of UAE’s non-oil trade with India is expected to increase to more than $100 billion over the next five years. The UAE is the seventh largest investor in India, with cumulative foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows of $16.67 billion from April 2000 to September 2023.
Another crucial factor in bilateral ties is the presence in the UAE of 3.5 million Indian nationals, or 30% of the population. Indians make up the largest expatriate community in the UAE, and their remittances are a significant source of foreign earnings.
The visit also comes at a time of some strain in ties between the top leadership of the UAE and Saudi Arabia, another West Asian power with which India has forged strong trade and strategic ties over the past decade.
MBZ played a crucial role in realignment of power in West Asia when the UAE, along with Bahrain, forged ties with Israel in 2020. At the same time, the UAE has engaged with Iran and deepened relations with China and Russia
