Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed signs far-reaching deals with India in boost to ties

The agreements signed with prime minister Narendra Modi include a cultural cooperation treaty to protect national heritage; cooperation in space exploration, renewable energy, skill development, and combating electronic crime.

Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, inspects the guard of honour during an official reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan, the official homeShow more

NEW DELHI // Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, on Thursday led a UAE delegation in negotiating a raft of agreements with India to cooperate across several sectors.

The agreements signed include a cultural cooperation treaty to protect national heritage; cooperating on insurance regulation; a framework to facilitate the UAE’s investments in Indian infrastructure; cooperation in space exploration, renewable energy, skill development, and combating electronic crime.

Sheikh Mohammed met Indian prime minister Narendra Modi twice on the second day of his three-day trip – first in the morning, at Mr Modi’s residence, and then in the evening for talks and a working dinner.

The Crown Prince and Mr Modi signed the deals following their discussions, but a detailed statement about the agreements reached is expected only on Friday morning.

In a media briefing on Thursday evening, Dr Anwar Gargash, the UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, singled out for special discussion the US$75 billion (Dh275bn) in infrastructure investment that India is seeking from the UAE.

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“Right now, mechanisms are working” to figure out where such investment could go, Dr Gargash said. But he pointed out that India had to expedite such investment activity.

“The bureaucratic environment has to lure us,” he said. “We understand that the economy is vibrant and dynamic and large enough for it to take our money and other people’s money, but I think it’s extremely important also that we see structural reforms in India.”

Last October, the World Bank placed India at 130 out of 189 economies in its annual index of countries ranked by ease of doing business.

Through the day, the warm relations between India and the UAE were on display, as India accorded Sheikh Mohammed a red carpet welcome.

In the morning, Mr Modi received Sheikh Mohammed at Rashtrapati Bhavan, the presidential palace, where the Crown Prince inspected a guard of honour before he proceeded to Raj Ghat, the state memorial for Mahatma Gandhi.

After meeting Mr Modi at his residence, Sheikh Mohammed then returned to Rashtrapati Bhavan, where president Pranab Mukherjee hosted a lunch in his honour.

“Although our relationship have crossed many milestones, that doesn’t stop us from opening new horizons for this relationship to grow and prosper,” Sheikh Mohammed said at Rashtrapati Bhavan. “We expect all the mutual groups between the two countries to meet the desire of the leaderships of the two nations by working on creating new opportunities for economic, developmental and cultural partnerships.”

In the evening, as the two countries’ delegations continued to work on the agreements, Sheikh Mohammed called on vice president Hamid Ansari. He then met Mr Modi at Hyderabad House, a state palace, to steer negotiations to a conclusion.

One agreement that was concluded early, and that was announced on Wednesday evening, was for Adnoc, UAE’s national oil company, to store crude at an upcoming strategic storage reserve in Mangalore, on India’s west coast.

Adnoc will lease at least half of the underground reserve’s 1.5 million tonne capacity. In return, it will give India two-thirds of that quantity of oil – roughly 0.5 million tonnes – annually by way of compensation.

Dharmendra Pradhan, India’s petroleum minister, told reporters that “we have offered [the UAE] refinery projects, petrochemical plants, pipelines and LNG [liquefied natural gas] terminals for investment.”

Dr Gargash on Thursday evening also explained the two countries’ plans to increase the value of bilateral trade by 60 per cent, to $100bn, by 2020.

“It is a stretch target but doable,” he said. “You cannot keep squeezing the same orange, which means new sectors need to be developed. You need to add new revenue streams. For example, if we see greater cooperation in information technology, that will be a new orange.”

Reem Al Hashimy, newly named the UAE’s minister of state for international cooperation, said that space exploration would also be a new and important sector for the two countries to work on.

“We recently launched the UAE space agency, which is focused on looking at ways in which we could develop science around space but in particular develop a Mars mission,” Ms Al Hashimy said.

“That will culminate hopefully in 2020 or 2021, when we celebrate our golden jubilee as nation,” she added. “We are focused on developing strong partnerships with countries such as India which have space expertise, to help us get up that learning curve.”

Sheikh Mohammed’s visit concludes on Friday with a visit to the stock exchange in Mumbai, India’s economic capital, and a reception held by the UAE Ambassador to India, Dr Ahmed Al Banna, before he flies home in the evening.