India, UAE sign MoU to establish IIT in Abu Dhabi, first ever in MENA region

ABU DHABI [UAE]: India and the United Arab Emirates exchange a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a branch of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi in Abu Dhabi.

This is the first ever IIT to be set up in the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region. The MoU was exchanged between the Education Ministry of India, Abu Dhabi's Department of Education and Knowledge and IIT Delhi for planning to establish IIT Delhi-Abu Dhabi in UAE.

Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said, "During this visit, the two leaders also witnessed another important landmark the first of its kind of Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi setting up a campus in UAE."

"This is important not just from the perspective of our bilateral cooperation in the field of education, but it is also very significant in terms of bringing together the people-to-people ties, strengthening them further. For it would allow a very important segment of our people-to-people partnership which is the students and the connection between the students, the Indian diaspora, the UAE system and the top-rated education system of IIT Delhi to link up with the opportunities which are available in the UAE and further strengthen this important pillar of our partnership," Kwatra added.

Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi informed about the transformative MoUs exchanged between India and UAE.

The two countries also signed two MoUs for the use of local currencies for cross-border transactions and cooperation for interlinking their payment and messaging systems.

"MoU between @RBI & @centralbankuae for the establishment of a framework to promote the use of local currencies (INR-AED) for cross-border transactions. MoU between @RBI & @centralbankuae for the bilateral cooperation on interlinking their payment and messaging systems. MoU between @EduMinOfIndia & Department of Education and Knowledge, Abu Dhabi & @iitdelhi for planning to establish IIT Delhi - Abu Dhabi, UAE," Bagchi tweeted.

Two Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) were exchanged in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi. The agreements aimed at facilitating seamless cross-border transactions and payments, and fostering greater economic cooperation between India and United Arab Emirates (UAE).

"Setting a new landmark in bilateral ties. PM @narendramodi & President HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan held delegation-level talks and a one-on-one meeting. Discussions touched upon a broad range of areas of bilateral cooperation including trade & investment, fintech, energy, renewables, climate action, higher education and people-to-people ties," MEA spokesperson tweeted.

"The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Central Bank of UAE (CBUAE) signed two MoUs for establishing a framework to promote the use of local currencies- the Indian rupee (INR) and the UAE Dirham (AED) for cross-border transactions; and cooperation for interlinking their payment and messaging systems," RBI official release said. The MoUs were signed by the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, Shaktikanta Das and the Governor of the Central Bank of UAE, Khaled Mohamed Balama.

The MoUs were exchanged between the two Governors, in the presence of the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi and Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE. Under the MOU on ‘Payments and Messaging Systems’, the two central banks agreed to cooperate on linking their Fast Payment Systems (FPSs) – Unified Payments Interface (UPI) of India with Instant Payment Platform (IPP) of UAE; linking the respective Card Switches (RuPay switch and UAESWITCH); and exploring the linking of payments messaging systems i.e., Structured Financial Messaging System (SFMS) of India with the messaging system in the UAE.

The UPI-IPP linkage will enable the users in either country to make fast, convenient, safe, and cost-effective cross-border funds transfers. The linking of Card Switches will facilitate the mutual acceptance of domestic cards and the processing of card transactions. The linkage of messaging systems is aimed to facilitate bilateral financial messaging between the two countries.

A branch of IIT, IIT-Madras is also all set to create history by establishing its first international campus in Zanzibar-Tanzania, Professor V Kamakoti, Director of IIT Madras said earlier this week.