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At a time when India is navigating security and economic challenges amidst the instability in West Asia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit the UAE on May 15.
Sources said Saturday that the UAE, which has a comprehensive strategic partnership with India and is home to a large Indian diaspora, has been included in the Prime Minister’s itinerary at the last minute.
The UAE has been one of the main targets of Iranian missile attacks ever since the start of the West Asia war on February 28. Tehran accuses the emirates of providing safe space to American military bases, facilities and personnel.
And amid the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz, which has impacted energy supplies to much of the world, including India, the UAE announced it was exiting the OPEC, the bloc of oil-producing exporters headed by Saudi Arabia, and the OPEC Plus.
India has walked the diplomatic tightrope between the UAE and Iran, but has repeatedly condemned the attacks on the UAE.
From the UAE, Modi will leave for Europe. He is scheduled to visit the Netherlands (May 15-17), Sweden (May 17), Norway (May 17-19) and Italy (May 19-20).
Sources said the situation in West Asia is one of the reasons why the Prime Minister has decided to meet UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
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On May 5, a day after three Indian nationals in the UAE were injured in a blaze following an Iranian drone strike in the eastern emirate of Fujairah, Modi “strongly condemned the attacks”, and said the targeting of civilians and infrastructure was “unacceptable”.
The Ministry of External Affairs, in a separate statement, called for the “immediate cessation of these hostilities and the targeting of civilian infrastructure and innocent civilians”.
Earlier, in the last week of April, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval travelled to the UAE and met the UAE President in Abu Dhabi. This was a week after he visited Saudi Arabia.
Doval’s visit was an important outreach given that he has been coordinating with the Emirati establishment on security and strategic issues, especially on counter-terrorism cooperation. It also laid the groundwork for Modi’s visit.
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Trade with the energy-rich UAE has been disrupted due to the Iranian closure of the Strait of Hormuz in the last two months — only 11 Indian ships have been able to transit the strait.
Modi has spoken to leaders of the UAE, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf monarchies in the last two months, and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has also been in touch with his counterparts in these countries.
In April, Jaishankar also met the UAE President. Underlining the robustness of the India-UAE strategic partnership, he said the ongoing dialogue between the two nations remained strong and transparent despite the complex regional environment.
The UAE is home to about 4.7 million Indians, and annual remittances by the large Indian community in the UAE is one of the highest in the world. The Indian expatriate community is the largest ethnic community in the UAE, constituting about 35 per cent of the country’s population.
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The India-UAE trade, valued at USD 180 million per annum in the 1970s, reached USD 84 billion in 2023-24 – the UAE became India’s third largest trading partner after China and the US.
For the period April 2000-September 2024, FDI inflows from the UAE accounted for nearly USD 22 billion (3.1% of the total inward FDI inflows), making it the seventh largest source of investments. The UAE has committed to invest USD 75 billion in India’s infrastructure sector over a period of time.
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