Prime Minister Modi will visit UAE for the 7th time in 10 years, after Indira Gandhi, no PM even looked at this country.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will go on a two-day visit to UAE from today i.e. Tuesday. How the two countries have come closer during the tenure of Prime Minister Modi. What is the basis of India-UAE relations? Let's find out.

5 Month ago

India-UAE relations are based on political, cultural and economic foundations. Bilateral trade is the strongest basis of India-UAE proximity. If we look at the official figures for 2020-23, the trade between India and UAE was around 85 billion US dollars during this period.

UAE is also important for India as it was among the top 4 countries for FDI investments in India during 2022-23. An estimated 3.5 lakh people from the Indian community live in the United Arab Emirates. The Indian community is the largest expatriate group in the UAE. A Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) was signed between the two countries in February 2022. This was considered a milestone in the relationship.

A strong foundation of India-UAE relations was laid in 1976 by the then President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed. After that he went to UAE. Even after this, in 2003 and 2010, the then President went on an official visit to the UAE.

Indira Gandhi went to UAE in May 1981 when she was the Prime Minister. After that, no Prime Minister visited the UAE for three and a half decades. After Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister, relations with UAE started to be established anew on this issue.

The Prime Minister will visit the UAE twice in 2015, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023 and now in early 2024. In this way, Prime Minister Modi has given preference to UAE a total of 7 times during his 10-year tenure. Apart from UAE, this visit of PM Modi will also cover Qatar. Qatar has recently pardoned the sentences of 8 Indians.