UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan arrived in India on Monday on an official visit to explore new frontiers in further boosting the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.
The Emirati President’s visit comes at a time of heightened volatility in the Middle East, marked by a sharp downturn in Iran–US relations, ongoing tensions between Saudi Arabia and the UAE over Yemen, and an increasingly unstable political situation in Gaza.
Sheikh Nahyan will depart New Delhi later tonight after a day-long visit to India. According to people familiar with the visit, discussions with the Indian leadership focused on strengthening cooperation in areas such as trade and investment, defence industry collaboration and energy initiatives, PTI reported.
The visit comes against the backdrop of a significant upswing in bilateral trade and people-to-people ties following the signing of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between India and the UAE in 2022.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the visit builds on the momentum generated by recent high-level exchanges between the two countries.
These include the visit of Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to India in September 2024, as well as the visit of UAE Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to India in April last year.
“India and the UAE share warm, close, and multi-faceted relations, underpinned by strong political, cultural, and economic ties,” the MEA said.
Highlighting the depth of engagement, the MEA noted that India and the UAE are among each other’s top trading and investment partners, supported by CEPA, the local currency settlement system and the bilateral investment treaty. The two countries also share a robust energy partnership, including long-term energy supply arrangements.
“The visit will provide an opportunity for the two leaders to chart new frontiers for the India-UAE comprehensive strategic partnership,” the MEA said in a statement. “It will also enable an exchange of views on regional and global issues of mutual interest, where India and the UAE share a high degree of convergence.”
The visit comes at a time of heightened volatility in the Middle East, marked by a sharp downturn in Iran–US relations, lingering tensions between Saudi Arabia and the UAE over the Yemen conflict, and an increasingly unstable political situation in Gaza.
Against this backdrop, the engagement assumes added strategic significance, offering both sides an opportunity to exchange views on regional security, stability and geopolitical realignments.
For India, deeper coordination with the UAE—one of its key strategic partners in the region—could help safeguard energy interests, trade routes and the welfare of the Indian diaspora, while reinforcing a shared approach to managing emerging regional and global challenges.