New Delhi, Feb 12 : As many as five high-level visits by top leaders took place between India and the UAE since July 2023, as the relations between the two nations touched new highs in the past one year.

During this period, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the UAE, while UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed too visited India in September 2023 to attend the G20 Summit when it was invited as a special invitee.

Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed also visited Gujarat in January 2024 as the chief guest of the 10th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit.

An official said the India-UAE-France (UFI) trilateral was formally launched during a teleconference between External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and his UAE and French counterparts.

With India's active support, the UAE joined the SCO as a dialogue partner in May 2023 at the finance ministers' summit in Goa. With India's active support, the UAE also joined the BRICS as a Member on January 1, 2024.

Trade and Investment

During the visit of PM Modi to Abu Dhabi on July 15, 2023, several MoUs were signed including for the establishment of a local currency settlement system to promote the use of INR and dirham for cross-border transactions. Three major transactions involving gold, petroleum and food commodities have been undertaken so far under the mechanism, the official said.

In March 2023, the first India-UAE Investment Summit took place in Srinagar which was hosted by J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha.

The first FDI from the UAE to J&K was also announced -- EMAAR Group will invest Rs 500 crore in a shopping mall and a multipurpose tower on the outskirts of Srinagar.

An MoU to establish a branch of Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi in Abu Dhabi was signed between the two countries.

Accordingly, the interim campus of IIT-D, Abu Dhabi, has come up in record time with the first Master's course in energy transition and sustainability commencing on January 29, while Bachelors and other programmes will start from September 2024.

Also in January, the first India-UAE bilateral army exercise -- Desert Cyclone -- was undertaken in Rajasthan.

In the same month, the first trilateral exercise named 'Desert Knight Exercise' involving the air forces India, the UAE and France took place at the Al Dhafra air base in the UAE.

More recently, EDGE and HAL signed an MOU which will explore areas of cooperation, including joint design and development of missile systems and unmanned aerial vehicles, between the two nations.

During the visit of PM Modi to Dubai in November-December last year to attend the COP28 Summit, the Prime Minister was given the special status of being the only HOS/HOG, who addressed the ceremonial opening of the COP-28 Plenary. Modi had launched the Global Green Credit initiative in the presence of UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed.

India and the UAE, along with other countries, launched the India-Middle East Europe Economic Corridor (IMEEC) and the Global Biofuel Alliance on the margins of the G20 Leaders' Summit in September 2023.

India also joined the AIM for Climate (AIM4C) initiative in 2023, which was introduced by the UAE and the US during the COP26 in Glasgow.

/IANS