UAE President, India’s PM meet; deals signed include MoU to set up payment in local currencies

Image: Twitter / Indian Embassy in UAE

Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of UAE met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Abu Dhabi.

The visit by the Indian leader was to take the strategic partnership between the two countries to the next level, following the signing of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in 2022, as per state news agency WAM.

During their meeting at Qasr Al Watan in Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohamed welcomed the visit of Prime Minister Modi as an opportunity to further strengthen bilateral ties for the benefit of both nations and their people – across economic, investment, development and renewable energy fields, as well as health, food security, education, and advanced technology.

During the meeting, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed and PM Modi discussed the COP28 climate conference to be hosted by the UAE later this year.

Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed noted that given its influential role within the international community, India’s active participation at COP28 was eagerly anticipated, and the UAE was looking forward to exploring ways to expand upon the two countries’ constructive cooperation in the field of climate action.

The UAE President thanked Prime Minister Modi for India’s support to the UAE in multilateral organisations – the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BRICS group, and for being invited to participate as a guest in the work of the G20 under India’s presidency in 2023, reported WAM.

PM Modi expressed his appreciation for the warm reception and thanked Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed for his continuous efforts to reinforce the longstanding ties between their two countries. The Indian prime minister reaffirmed his wish to continue working to advance UAE-India relations with the aim of achieving the sustainable development ambitions of both sides.

We discussed the ongoing progress of our bilateral ties, our shared interest in promoting sustainable global growth, and ways to further boost collaboration between our countries & our people. pic.twitter.com/2CiZEVYtBN

— مكتب أبوظبي الإعلامي (@ADMediaOffice) July 15, 2023

Following the meeting, a luncheon was held in honour of Prime Minister Modi and his accompanying delegation.

PM @narendramodi and HH Sheikh @MohamedBinZayed, witnessed the exchange of 3 MoUs:
1️⃣ for establishment of a framework to promote the use of local currencies (INR-AED) for cross-border transactions @RBI@centralbankuae
2️⃣ for on interlinking of ?? ?? payment & messaging systems pic.twitter.com/On1lbV3mfb

— India in UAE (@IndembAbuDhabi) July 15, 2023

India and UAE signed three crucial memorandum of understanding to further bilateral trade and economic partnership.

India-UAE trade in local currencies

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Central Bank of UAE (CBUAE) signed two agreements in Abu Dhabi to establish a framework for cross-border transactions in local currencies and interlinking of payment and messaging systems.

The agreements were signed by Khaled Balama, Governor of the CBUAE, and Shaktikanta Das, Governor of the RBI, in the presence of President Sheikh Mohamed and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Abu Dhabi, the RBI said in a statement.

The memorandum of agreements will work to ‘establish a framework to promote the use of local currencies viz. the Indian rupee (INR) and the UAE dirham (AED) for cross-border transactions’ and ‘cooperation for interlinking their payment and messaging systems’.

Reserve Bank of India and Central Bank of the UAE sign two MoUs to (i) establish a Framework to Promote the Use of Local Currencies for Cross-border Transactions and (ii) cooperation for interlinking their payment and messaging systemshttps://t.co/vGzbgyrsyK

— ReserveBankOfIndia (@RBI) July 15, 2023

Education

The education ministries of the two countries and IIT-Delhi announced that Abu Dhabi will host a branch of the premier institute in the future.

Climate change

The UAE will host the COP28 this year and India reiterated its participation for the upcoming climate conference. PM Modi also met with Dr Sultan Al Jaber, President-delegate of the COP28 climate change and discussed further enhancing cooperation between the UAE and India on “delivering ambitious and inclusive outcomes at COP28”.