UAE Central to India's Extended Neighbourhood, Both Share Fast-growing Ties: Jaishankar

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that India and the UAE share a fast-growing relationship and that the Gulf country is central to India’s extended neighbourhood. He also welcomed the normalisation of diplomatic relations between the UAE and Israel and said it has opened up “lots of opportunities” for the country as it has very good ties with the two countries.

“India and the UAE share a fast-growing relationship. The UAE is central to India’s extended neighbourhood. We see the UAE on the crossroads of international trade. As Singapore is in the East, the UAE is in the West,” Jaishankar told the Gulf News.

Jaishankar, who has taken a special interest in the India-UAE bilateral relationship, said: “It is a relationship where the highest leadership of both countries have invested goodwill and energy. As a result, you can see the transformation during the last five years.”

In 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the first Indian premier to visit UAE in 34 years. This was a turning point, as the last five years have proven so emphatically, the report said.

On August 17, Jaishankar held extensive talks with his counterpart from the UAE Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, covering a range of areas including ways to further boost strategic ties and the situation in the neighbourhood of both countries.

The Ministry of External Affairs said the Indian side invited further investments from the UAE in key sectors of the Indian economy such as infrastructure including logistics, food parks, highways, ports, airports, renewable energy and defence.

In a statement, it said wide-ranging discussions were held in a friendly, frank and constructive atmosphere, reflecting the strong bilateral ties between the two partners.

Commenting on the recent treaty between the UAE and Israel, Jaishankar said: “When two strategic friends come closer it opens up lots of opportunities.”

India on August 14 welcomed the “full normalisation” of ties between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel under a historic peace deal, and said it has consistently supported peace, stability and development in West Asia.

A day after his country finalised the peace deal with Israel, Foreign Minister of the UAF Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan made a phone call to his Indian counterpart Jaishankar and discussed the peace initiative.