UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed: India’s friend and torch bearer of bolstered India-UAE relations

Last updated on January 18th, 2023 at 10:51 am

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the newly appointed third President of the United Arab Emirates, has always shared a close bond with India and shares great rapport with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The appointment brings hope of bolstering the leadership position in the Gulf region. The hopes of enhanced ties between India and UAE are high.

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Key role in transforming relations between India and UAE

Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, also fondly called as MBZ, held the command as UAE’s de facto leader of the country since 2014 after late President of UAE H.H. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan suffered stroke. This is when he played a key role in transforming relations between India and UAE.

Relations across trade, investments and culture

Under the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed, the relations between both the countries witnessed expansions across sectors including trade, bilateral investment flows, energy and food security, culture, defence, space and security cooperation.

Security cooperation between India and UAE is one of the main area where significant improvement has been witnessed under leadership of MBZ.

Cultural and religious co-existence

Cultural and religious co-existence is a major feat in UAE under MBZ. With more women being brought to forefront under leadership of His Highness, the number of people from India currently settled in UAE gives a sense of leadership knack the president has. “Unlike Saudi Arabia, the UAE allows Christian churches and Hindu or Sikh temples, partly to accommodate a vast foreign work force. (The country is estimated to have nine million residents, but fewer than a million citizens; the rest are foreign workers.)”, said an article in Times.

Also Read: India and UAE sign landmark free trade pact, aim for $100 bn in annual trade

Ground breaking CEPT pact

The landmark CEPA (Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement) between India and UAE signed in February, 2022 marked a golden era of economic and trade cooperation between the countries. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal had tweeted, “Both nations are entering a golden era of economic & trade cooperation with the signing of India-UAE CEPA.”

The agreement is set to bring enhanced benefits to trade, commerce and economy in both countries with reduced tariffs and eased trade with a vision of next five years.

Joint statement released by Indian PM Narendra Modi and then Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed (now the President of UAE) read, “The shared objective is to promote new trade, investment and innovation dynamic in diverse sectors, including economy, energy, climate action, emerging technologies, skills and education, food security, healthcare and defence and security.”

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UAE and India share a strong cultural and now trade and partnership, which is now going to reach new heights of alliance and cooperation under the new leadership of UAE led by President Sheikh Mohammed and Indian government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.