Abdullah bin Zayed chairs the 13th 'UAE-India Joint Committee'

H.H. Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, chaired the 13th meeting of the 'UAE-India Joint Committee,' which was held in the form of a video conference.

The Indian side of the meeting was chaired by Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs of India.

Sheikh Abdullah began his speech by extending the sincere condolences to the government and the people of the Republic of India for the unfortunate loss of lives in the tragic Air India Express plane crash, praying to Allah the Almighty to rest their souls rest in peace and may god grant their families patience and strength.

"On behalf of the UAE Government and people, I would also like to express the deepest solidarity with the grieved families of the victims who passed away because of the recent flooding and COVID-19 infections in India, wishing all those infected a speedy recovery. May our two friendly nations remain prosperous, safe, and healthy,"

Both sides expressed optimism over the growing trade, economic and investment cooperation between the two countries, both sides discussed the regional issues pertaining to their neighborhood and also the cooperation at the United Nations as well as other multilateral forums.

Sheikh Abdullah indicated that the UAE-India joint efforts have resulted in significant progress in the economic relations between the two side, it resulted in a steady increase in the total bilateral trade volume over the past years, in particular, the bilateral total trade value has increased from around USD 50 billion between 2017-2018 to about USD 60 billion dollars between 2018-2019, at an annual rate of 20%.

"Indeed, this constitutes to be a great incentive to achieve more growth in trade flows and economic cooperation in priority areas," he noted

He also said, "I also stress that the investment relations between the two sides are no less important than the commercial relations, but, rather are complementary to them. I commend, in this regard, the legal facilities provided recently by the Indian Government to UAE investments, in addition to the great progress made by the Republic of India in the ease of business report issued by the World Bank. I hope that these developments will positively and tangibly reflect on the UAE investments in India, as well as on the investment and trade flows between the two sides.

Sheikh Abdullah concluded his speech by saying, "I would like to commend the outcomes of the Committee's work, and to thank all the participants for their efforts during the preparatory meetings, calling upon both sides to follow up on these outcomes, and to move forward in implementing the bilateral initiatives aimed at strengthening our relations."

For his part, the Indian minister of External Affairs praised his country’s close relations of friendship and strategic cooperation with the UAE and emphasized keenness to develop them in a way that will meet aspirations of the two countries’ leaderships and benefit their peoples.

Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishanker congratulated Sheikh Abdullah for the two historic milestones achieved by the UAE recently: the successful launch of the "Hope Probe" which is destined to Mars, and the successful operation of the Unit 1 of Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant.

He also thanked Sheikh Abdullah for the support given to the members of the Indian community as the world is faced with COVID-19 pandemic. He commended the UAE’ efforts to facilitate repatriation of the Indian residents wishing to return to their country during pandemic.

He also said India is looking forward to participating in the Dubai Expo 2020, while Sheikh Abdullah wished special participation by India in the international event which will be hosted by the UAE host next year.

Both sides also discussed a number of regional and international issues of common concern, including Libya and Iran, as well as the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.

The Indian minister reiterated his country's welcome to the peace treaty between the UAE and the State of Israel, stressing that both countries are major strategic partners of India.

At the end the meeting, the two minister signed minutes of the 13th Session of the India-UAE Joint Commission Meeting.

The meeting was attended by Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh, UAE Minister of State, Abdul Nasser Al Shaali, Assistant Minister of Economic and Trade Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the United Arab Emirates, Dr Ahmed Al Banna, the UAE Ambassador to India, Pavan Kapoor, Ambassador of India to the UAE, and several officials from both countries.