New milestones in India-UAE ties

India and the UAE share an exemplary partnership. Driven by the vision of leaders from both sides, this relationship has grown in leaps and bounds over the years. This is evident from the fact that in the last 18 months, there have been six top-level visits between the two countries. This has resulted in the achievement of many major milestones together. Among these, BAPS Hindu Mandir stands as a symbol of shared values of peace and harmony of both countries.

The establishment of IIT Delhi-Abu Dhabi underscores the shared commitment of the two countries to invest in future generations. The signing of CEPA in 2022 has given a fillip to India-UAE trade ties. India-UAE Virtual Trade Corridor, envisaged as a building block for the India Middle East Europe Economic Corridor (IMEEC), was launched during the highly successful visit of Shaikh Khaled Bin Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, in September 2024.

Last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, laid the foundation stone for Bharat Mart in Dubai. This initiative, along with Bharat Africa Setu which is at the concept stage, will help leverage our mutual strengths in manufacturing, trade, shipping and logistics.

Today, UPI is widely deployed in the UAE. The national credit and debit card system of the UAE, Jaywan, is based on India’s RuPay stack and has been developed by the National Payment Corporation of India. Both countries have also signed a Rupee-Dirham agreement to settle cross-border trade transactions in their respective local currencies. The list of achievements of this partnership is ever expanding.
How has the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) impacted trade and economic collaboration between India and the UAE and what trends have emerged in trade growth between the two countries following the implementation of CEPA?

India-UAE CEPA was a landmark achievement and has emerged as one of the key anchors of our strengthening bilateral relations. The results are already visible as bilateral trade has reached $85 billion in 2023 and is on path to achieving $100 billion by 2030. It gives us immense pleasure to note that since the implementation of CEPA in May 2022, bilateral non-oil trade has also registered impressive gains. For example, during the last year, the year-on-year gain was over 10 per cent with our bilateral non-oil trade reaching an all time high of $56 billion. For the financial year 2023-24, the UAE was ranked as India’s third largest trading partner and second largest export destination, with exports over $35.62 billion. Meanwhile, India was the UAE’s second largest trading partner.

Could you elaborate on any notable developments or initiatives aimed at driving Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) between the UAE and India?

Counting from the year 2000, the UAE is the seventh-largest source of FDI, with a total of $22 billion worth investments. During the first half of the current financial year 2024-25, the UAE’s investments into India were close to $3.5 billion.

On the other hand, though no official figures are available, Indian investments in the UAE are estimated to exceed $85 billion. The two countries signed the Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) last year, which will act as a catalyst for further investments. There is strong interest from the UAE’s institutional investors to invest in India. The office of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority in the GIFT City in Gujarat is already operational. Other big funds, banks and financial institutions are also exploring the GIFT City route. Both countries engage regularly on investment and investor-related issues under the forum of High Level Task Force on Investments, co-chaired by Piyush Goyal, Commerce & Industries Minister of India, and Hamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Managing Director, ADIA. Its last meeting took place in Mumbai in October 2024.

Establishment of IIT Delhi Abu Dhabi campus in 2024 is a major achievement in the field of education. Are more such institutions establishing their footprints in the UAE?

The inauguration of the IIT Delhi campus in Abu Dhabi by Shaikh Khaled in September 2024 was a major achievement in our partnership. Apart from the IIT, there are also plans for establishing other Indian institutes of excellence in the UAE. Indian Institute of Management (IIM) and Indian Institute of Foreign Trade will soon have their first overseas campuses in the UAE. Many Indian private universities have started their campuses in the UAE with the latest being Symbiosis University that started its new campus in Dubai in 2024.

What are the newer areas of cooperation between India and the UAE?

India-UAE partnership is constantly charting pathways of collaboration in newer domains. During Shaikh Khaled’s visit to India, both the countries signed an MoU to increase cooperation in nuclear energy. During the recent visit of Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, to India, an agreement to explore cooperation in polar regions was signed. We have an ongoing collaboration in advanced technologies like supercomputers and innovative healthcare in Genome. Green hydrogen is another frontier where the two countries are collaborating.

What role have people-to-people ties played in strengthening the India-UAE partnership?

People-to-people ties form sthe bedrock of our friendship. More than four million Indians find their second home in the UAE. The UAE government and leadership have been instrumental in their welfare. Indians visiting the UAE on tosurist visas have risen to 4.5 million in 2023. More and more Emiratis are travelling to India following the introduction of visa on arrival and e-visa facility. The special bond between the people of both countries will continue to steer this relationship towards a brighter future.