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Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, has met with Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs of India.
During the meeting, which took place in New Delhi, the two ministers discussed ways of strengthening the historic UAE-India relations, under the framework of the comprehensive strategic partnership between their countries.
They also discussed the prospects for boosting trade and economic bilateral relations, within the framework of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which their countries signed in 2022. Moreover, the meeting explored bolstering the two countries’ collaboration in the health and technology sectors, given their vitality as drivers of their developmental goals.
Sheikh Abdullah and Jaishankar exchanged views on a number of issues of mutual concern, as well as on the latest developments in the regional and global scenes.
In addition, the meeting discussed India’s priorities as the 2023 President of the Group of Twenty (G20), and ways to enhance the UAE’s participation in the Group’s activities, serving as a guest country for the second consecutive year, as well as boosting the contributions of the private sector in both countries to the G20’s activities, given the sector’s pivotal role in driving sustainable development.
They also reviewed the prospects of the UAE-India cooperation at the level of multilateral groups and organisations, be it through existing partnerships such as the I2U2 Group, or future cooperation opportunities with BRICS, an informal grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
Sheikh Abdullah stressed that the UAE and India and their leaderships share strong, historical ties, with their partnership yielding many an achievement that drive sustainable development in the two countries.
In line with the UAE-India CEPA, we are seeking to boost our economic cooperation to achieve our ambitious goal of raising our non-oil trade value to around US$100 billion in the next five years, H.H. Sheikh Abdullah added.
He underscored that the various successes achieved through the UAE-India ties are the fruits of the visions of their leaderships to establish a world-leading model of partnership and cooperation that boost sustainable economic growth and prosperity.
Sheikh Abdullah expressed his eagerness to see a new and prosperous chapter in their countries’ cooperation and multipartite work that would contribute to raising their status regionally and globally.
He went on to highlight the UAE’s keenness on furthering its participation in the G20 during India’s presidency, as well as supporting the private sector’s participation in the group’s work.
After the meeting, Jaishankar hosted a luncheon in honour of H.H. Sheikh Abdullah and his accompanying delegation.
Present at the meeting were Reem bint Ibrahim Al Hashemy, Minister of State for International Cooperation; Dr. Abdul Nasser Al Shaali, UAE Ambassador to India; Saeed Mubarak Al Hajeri, Assistant Foreign Minister for Economic and Trade Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MoFAIC); and Omran Anwar Sharaf Al Hashemi, Assistant Minister for Advanced Sciences and Technology Affairs at MoFAIC.
