Context: The Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Defence of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had his first official visit to India in April 2025.
Relevance of the Topic: Mains: India - UAE bilateral relationship.
Key Highlights of the Meeting
- Both countries discussed ways to further strengthen the India-UAE Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in the areas of trade, investments, defence, energy, technology, education, sports and people-to-people ties.
- Announcement made during the visit:
- Setting up of the campuses in UAE (IIM in Dubai; Indian Institute of Foreign Trade in Dubai)
- Grant of land for UAE-India Friendship Hospital in Dubai focussed on affordable healthcare to the blue-collar Indian diaspora.
- Development of ship-repair clusters at Kochi and Vadinar.
- Increase defence industry collaboration, and explore opportunities for enhancing partnership in defence manufacturing.
India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement:
- India-UAE CEPA was signed in 2022. Since the signing of CEPA, bilateral merchandise trade has nearly doubled to USD 83 billion in FY24.
- CEPA has been successful in diversifying the trade basket and it will help achieve the non-oil trade target of US$ 100 billion by 2030.
Also Read: India-UAE Bilateral Relations