NOTES Prime Minister Narendra Modi held wide-ranging talks with Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on February 10, 2018 Palestine, United Arab Emirates and Oman
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Border - Oman to the east and Saudi Arabia to the south Islam is the official religion of the UAE and Arabic is the official language The UAE's oil reserves are the seventh-largest in the world while its natural gas reserves are the world's seventeenth-largest Capital - Abu Dhabi
UAE INDIA RELATIONS Bilateral trade between India and the UAE stood at about $60 billion in 2015-16. (joint statement)
NOTES The UAE is also India s second largest destination for its exports. Early last year(2017) when the Crown Prince arrived in India as New Delhi s guest of honour for its 68th Republic Day celebrations, both nations had decided to increase trade by 60% over the next five years.
NOTES UAE s significance to India also stems from the fact that it is home to 2.6 million working Indians, making them the largest immigrant community. Reports indicate that Indian migrant workers sent back 14.64 billion Emirati dirhams during the second quarter of 2017-18, which translates to more than Rs 25 billion. According to the UAE Central Bank, this amounts to nearly 35.9% of the total value of remittances sent by immigrant workers during the second quarter of 2017-18. The UAE is India s biggest source of remittances from nations within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), accounting for 38.7%.
THE OIL During the Crown Prince s last visit, both sides signed a strategic oil reserve deal pact that allows the UAE to fill half of an underground crude oil storage facility at Mangalore that is part of New Delhi s strategic reserve [emergency] system, However India s trade surplus with the UAE is negative due to crude oil imports. India needs to aggressively push its exports of gems, minerals and food items.
INVESTMENT UAE is currently the 10th largest investor in India UAE has a sovereign wealth fund of 800 billion dollars. Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF), are the pools of money derived from a country s reserves, which are set aside for investment purposes that will benefit the country s economy and its citizens.
NOTES Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated a project for the construction of the first Hindu temple in Abu Dhabi, describing it as a catalytic agent of humanity and harmony that would become a medium of India s identity. He laid the foundation stone for the Swaminarayan temple of the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha It will come up on 55,000 square metres of land. It will include idols of Lord Krishna, Lord Maheshwara, Lord Ayyappa and more
FIRST TEMPLE? Currently, there are two Hindu temples and one gurudwara in Dubai. In 1958, Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed al Maktoum permitted the Hindu temple to be built on the first floor of a bylane in Bur Dubai. Among the other temples in Dubai, one is dedicated to Lord Shiva and the other to Lord Krishna. In July 2013, a Muslim businessman donated five acres of land adjoining a mosque for setting up a Swaminarayan temple.
DEEPEN STRATEGIC TIES India and the UAE will hold a bilateral naval exercise The declaration came during Prime Minister Narendra Modi s discussion with the leadership of the Gulf country with both sides agreeing to deepen the strategic partnership and counter terrorism in all forms.
MAKING COMMON CAUSE AGAINST INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM A joint statement issued at the end of Mr. Modi s discussions with the hosts said, The two sides deplored the adoption of double standards in addressing the menace of international terrorism and agreed to strengthen cooperation in combating terrorism both at the bilateral level and within the multilateral system. The two sides resolved to continue working together towards the adoption of India s proposed Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism in the United Nations.
WORLD GOVERNMENT SUMMIT The World Government Summit is an annual event held in Dubai, UAE Prime Minister Narendra Modi today addressed the World Government Summit in Dubai where he was the chief guest India has been named guest country at this year's event Modi ji said - In E-governance, E stands for effective, efficient, easy, empower, and equity, PM added that everyone must follow the six Rs that stand for reduce, reuse, recycle, recover, redesign and remanufacture since this will lead to Anand.
NOTES A MoU between the Indian Consortium (OVL, BPRL & IOCL) and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) was signed for the acquisition of a 10% participating interest in the Abu Dhabi s offshore. The concession will be for 40 years from 2018 to 2057 This is the first Indian investment in upstream oil sector of the UAE, transforming the traditional buyer-seller relationship to a long-term investor relationship.
NOTES Speaking at the signing of the agreement, Prime Minister Modi said, The offshore concession in favour of the Indian consortium has taken our bilateral engagement in the oil and gas sector to a new level, which befits the comprehensive strategic partnership between our two countries.
OIL STORAGE Alongside the concession award, ADNOC and the Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL) exchanged agreements, to implement the strategic crude oil storage facility, in the southern Indian city of Mangalore. The partnership with ISPRL, an Indian government- owned company mandated to store crude oil for strategic needs, covers the storage of 5.86 million barrels of ADNOC crude oil in underground facilities, at the Karnataka facility.
QUESTION FOR YOU ALL Saudi Arabia's oil company Armaco is going for $100 billion IPO. Should India invest?
NOTES A MoU for technical cooperation in railways was also signed between the two sides, it aims at cooperation in infrastructure sector especially railways. The Indian railways ministry is drawing up a Rs 20-lakh crore investment plan under which it will convert 10,000 km of its trunk routes into high-speed corridors and take up several other modernisation projects
MOU To deepen bilateral cooperation in the field of finance, a MoU between Bombay Stock Exchange and Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange was also signed.
A MoU between the Government of Jammu and Kashmir and DP World was also signed to establish multi-modal logistics park and hub in Jammu comprising warehouses and specialised storage solutions