PM Modi concludes “productive” UAE visit, departs for India

ABU DHABI [UAE]: After concluding his day-long visit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has left from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE) for Delhi. "Concluding a productive UAE visit. Our nations are working together on so many issues aimed at making our planet better. I thank HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan for the warm hospitality," tweeted PM Modi.

The visit was “a short but a very significant visit, a landmark in the partnership between India and the UAE,” said Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra before PM Modi emplaned for New Delhi.

Briefing about PM Modi’s UAE visit, Kwatra said that the Prime Minister has held “extensive discussions with the President of the UAE Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.” He also termed the visit to be of “tremendous strategic significance” as it showcased the “deep bond of friendship and trust” between the Prime Minister and the President of the UAE.

India and UAE had signed the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) last year and since the signing of that important strategic landmark agreement between the two countries, the trade and economic partnership and engagement has grown significantly between the two countries, Kwatra said. He noted that “visit this time puts together another pillar of that strategic economic partnership in a couple of important ways.”

PM Modi and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi witnessed an exchange of “important agreements” one of them being on “trade settlement in local currencies” and the second of them being “interlinking the payment and the messaging systems of the two countries,” Kwatra said in a short video message. Explaining the importance of these MoUs, Kwatra said, “What it essentially does is put together important segments of the ecosystem in economic engagement that brings about ever increasing greater strategic economic convergence between the economies of India and the UAE.”

The MoUs also reduce the transaction time, the transaction cost and essentially ensure an enormous ease of business at the level of trade between India and UAE. “Similarly, the linking up of the payment and the messaging systems of the two countries will add another dimension to our greater economic convergence and also harnesses the synergies between the two economies,” he further explained. The Foreign Secretary also said that PM Modi’s visit will perhaps open-up “new pathways for India” to look at structuring similar partnership with other countries both in the region and beyond. In the video message, Kwatra also noted that PM Modi’s visit puts in place “new foundations for partnership in economic domain” which will bring about greater strategic convergence in the months and years ahead. He also said that the visit will expand economic linkages between India and UAE through the linking up of payment and messaging systems of the two countries and expanding another important layer which is the field of education cooperation between the two countries.