India-UAE to ink 16 pacts

At least 16 pacts in a wide range of sectors such as nuclear energy, oil, IT, aerospace and railways, facilitating billions of dollars of investment by the UAE in India, are likely to be inked during Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan's visit here beginning Wednesday.

Al Nahyan will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday and will discuss ways to contain radicalism, stepping up counter-terrorism cooperation and dealing with the ISIS, said UAE Ambassador Ahmed Al Banna.

A major focus of the three-day visit by the UAE leader, which comes around six months after Modi's trip to the UAE, will be on stepping up economic ties.

Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital, has a sovereign wealth fund of about $800 billion. India has been eying the fund, parked with the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, for its infrastructure sector and the envoy said there may be some announcements to this effect during Al Nahyan's visit.

"We have on hand around 16 agreements for cooperation between different ministries and authorities. Of 16, almost 12 have been finalised and ready for signature. Hopefully all the 16 will be signed," said Al Banna.

The envoy said the agreements will lead to "huge investment portfolio" in diverse areas, including renewable energy, oil and gas and some other major sectors. The pact on nuclear cooperation will provide for peaceful use of atomic energy as research and development in the area.

The UAE has signed a similar pact with France and some other countries.

India is the UAE's number one trading partner and the annual trade currently stands at around $60 billion. The UAE, a major player in the Gulf region, is a strategically important country for India.

The country is home to around 2.6 million Indians, who constitute nearly 30 per cent of its population. It was the sixth largest supplier of crude oil to India in 2014-15.

Al Banna said Modi's visit to his country, after a gap of 34 years by an Indian Prime Minister, has strengthened ties and Al Nahyan's trip will further boost it. "It (the visit) will reinforce the ongoing relationship and will take us to the next (level) that both sides are looking at, which is strategic cooperation, strategic coordination and strategic relationship," the envoy said.

Identifying terrorism as a major threat that the world is facing, the envoy said both India and the UAE are increasing security and counter-terrorism cooperation to deal with the menace. On the issue of checking radicalism, he said India and the UAE will work "hand in hand to fight them. Yes, there will be some cooperation on this".

The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi will also call on President Pranab Mukherjee.

The UAE, a close ally of Pakistan, on Monday welcomed Indo-Pak efforts to resume talks and assured that it would try its "best" to ensure that they succeed. UAE Ambassador Ahmed Al Banna said his country "supports" the latest initiative by the two countries, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Lahore outreach and the meeting of the National Security Advisers (NSAs) of India and Pakistan in Bangkok. Banna's remarks comes two days ahead of Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of UAE armed forces Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan's visit to New Delhi. "I am sure that there have been positive signs between the two countries...the meeting that took place between India and Pakistan in Thailand, trying to open a new path of relationship. We support that and we will try our best to make sure that it succeeds," Banna said.