India, UAE review strategic dialogue, bilateral partnership during Joint Commission meeting

During the 4th Strategic Dialogue and 15th Joint Commission Meeting, which were held in the nation’s capital, India and the United Arab Emirates evaluated their strategic alliance and inked a new Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation in ocean and polar research.

On Thursday, the 4th Strategic Dialogue took place. The conversation was co-chaired by UAE Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and EAM Jaishankar.

The two parties discussed ways to broaden their strategic relationship during the Strategic Dialogue, including defense, vital minerals, nuclear energy, arctic research, emerging technologies, and renewable energy. According to the MEA, the two parties also spoke about matters of common interest on a regional and global level.

In September 2022, Abu Dhabi hosted the Strategic Dialogue’s most recent iteration.

The two presidents co-chaired the 15th India-UAE Joint Commission Meeting (JCM) on Friday. Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, UAE Minister of Economy Abdullah bin Touq Al Marri, UAE Minister of State for International Cooperation and Special Envoy for India Reem Al Hashimy, UAE Minister of State for Economic and Trade Affairs Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh, ambassadors, and high-ranking officials from both sides joined the two ministers.

The strong friendships between the people of the two countries and the Hon. Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, and the President of the United Arab Emirates, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, have fostered the tremendous growth in bilateral relations since they were elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2017. They were pleased to see that since the previous JCM in September 2022 in Abu Dhabi, the two nations have been exchanging high-level visits on a regular basis.

The two presidents praised the India-UAE Bilateral Investment Treaty’s signature and implementation. According to the MEA statement, they reiterated the close commercial ties between the UAE and India, which are further strengthened by the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between the two countries.

They also praised the development of public digital infrastructure, such as card schemes, rapid payments, and Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC), as well as the two central banks’ close collaboration, especially in the fintech industry.

“The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEEC), a significant project meant to enhance marine connectivity and commerce between India, the United Arab Emirates, and Europe, was also addressed by both parties. They acknowledged that the Virtual Trade Corridor (VTC) and the MAITRI interface (Master Application for International Trade and Regulatory Interface) will simplify trade procedures by facilitating paperless transactions between the two nations through a data exchange system, and they welcomed the recent start of the work on these projects,” the statement read.

The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khaled Bin Mohamed, officially opened the IIT-Delhi Abu Dhabi campus on September 2, 2024, and both ministers praised its operation.

They discussed the continuing efforts to open the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade in Dubai and the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad’s foreign campuses. They emphasized the need of fortifying ties between the two nations’ Higher Education Institutes, with an emphasis on promoting collaborative research projects, scholarly interactions, and the creation of novel technologies.

EAM Jaishankar expressed gratitude to the UAE leadership for the kindness and consideration shown to the country’s 3.89 million Indian residents. The UAE’s foreign minister and deputy prime minister also acknowledged the Indian community’s contribution to the country’s growth and advancement. In order to address consular concerns and improve cooperation in terms of expertise and personnel, the parties decided to meet for a variety of institutional conversations in the next months.

The National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR) of India and the Emirates Polar Mission Steering Committee of the United Arab Emirates signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the 15th JCM Meeting.

“The MoU will facilitate cooperation between the two sides in the fields of polar and ocean regions through partnerships in polar operations, research and academic collaborations, capacity building and supporting each other’s presence at the poles,” said a statement from the MEA.

Jaishankar described the meeting as “extremely wide-ranging” on social networking site X, adding that they spoke about convergence on a number of international problems.

Together with DPM & FM Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the UAE, I co-chaired today’s 15th India-UAE JCM in New Delhi, which was very comprehensive and fruitful. Economic and commercial relations, energy security, defense cooperation, people-to-people ties, cultural and heritage linkages, and advancing the stability, security, and prosperity of both our regions were among the topics of discussion in a post on X by Jaishankar.

Co-chaired an extremely wide-ranging and productive 15th India-UAE JCM along with DPM & FM @ABZayed of UAE today in New Delhi.

The discussions covered various facets of our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership including economic & commercial relations, energy security, defence… pic.twitter.com/Too053kyd0

— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) December 13, 2024

“Observed the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding for the Polar Research Collaboration. and exchanged views on West Asian trends, our collaboration in IMEC and I2U2, and our convergences on a number of international topics,” he said.

In a post on X, Jaiswal said, “On the sidelines of 15th India-UAE Joint Commission Meeting, an MoU on Polar Research Collaboration was signed between the Emirates Polar Mission Steering Committee of UAE & the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR) of India.”

https://twitter.com/MEAIndia/status/1867540478771834921?

“The MoU will facilitate cooperation between India & UAE in the field of polar and ocean regions through partnerships in polar operations, research & academic collaborations and capacity building,” said the announcement.