Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Khalid bin Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan will visit India next month. Nahyan is a contender for the next leadership of the United Arab Emirates. He will be in India early next month to hold talks on strengthening trade and strategic ties between India and the UAE. Sheikh Khalid is expected to arrive in India on September 8. During this visit, he will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the country’s top leadership and this visit will focus on further strengthening future relations in the coming decades. An official said, “Relations between India and the UAE are now on a very strong footing and the focus of this visit will be on further strengthening that base, moving towards the coming decades and building close ties with the future leadership of the UAE.”
People familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that although no agreements are likely to be signed during the visit, both sides are expected to reaffirm their commitment to building stronger ties in areas ranging from trade to security. The visit will follow several high-profile visits by both sides in recent years. PM Modi has visited the UAE seven times since 2015. UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, also known as MBZ, last visited India in September 2023. MBZ declared his son Sheikh Khalid 42 as the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi in March 2023. Since then Sheikh Khalid has rarely traveled abroad. In May last year, he visited Malaysia.
UAE is India’s second largest export destination
It is worth noting that since the implementation of the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in 2022, bilateral trade has grown to around $85 billion in FY23. The UAE is India’s third largest trading partner after the US and China and India’s second largest export destination. India is also the UAE’s second largest trading partner, accounting for 9% of its total foreign trade and 14% of non-oil exports. According to official estimates, the value of UAE’s non-oil trade with India is expected to exceed $100 billion in the next five years. The UAE is also the seventh largest investor in India.
Indians form the largest expatriate community in the UAE
Another important factor in bilateral relations is the presence of 3.5 million Indian nationals in the UAE, which is 30% of the population. Indians form the largest expatriate community in the UAE and the remittances they send are a significant source of foreign income. The visit comes at a time when there is some tension in relations between the top leadership of the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
