PM Modi to travel to UAE this month

Indian Prime minister Narendra Modi will be travelling to United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the last week of this month. The visit will be part of his visit to Germany, where he will be going to take part in the G7 summit. The G7 summit is due to take place from 26 to 28 June 2022 at Schloss Elmau in the Bavarian Alps.

High-level visits between India, and UAE have been taking place routinely. The last visit by the PM to UAE was in August 2019 during which he received the UAE’s highest award, the 'Order of Zayed’ conferred upon him by UAE leadership. The visit also witnessed the official launch of ‘RuPay Card’ in UAE and the release of a set of stamps commemorating the 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Previously PM travelled to UAE in 2015 and 2018.

In fact, PM was expected to travel to UAE earlier this year, to visit the "India Pavillion" at the Dubai Expo. This year has been important for both countries as they signed a key Free Trade Agreement or FTA pact. UAE is the second-largest export destination of India (after the US) with an amount of over US$ 30 billion for the year 2018-19. For UAE, India was the second-largest trading partner in 2018 with US$ 36 billion (non-oil trade).

The diaspora forms the main pillar of ties. Indian expatriate community of approximately 3.4 million is the largest ethnic community in UAE constituting roughly about 35 per cent of the country’s population. 15% of the diaspora is in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the rest in 6 Northern Emirates including Dubai.

During the visit, PM Modi will pay his condolences on the demise of UAE President Sheikh Khalifa. India had sent its vice President Naidu as world leaders gathered in the country to pay homage. India had also announced a day of mourning with the national flag at half-mast.

The visit of Indian PM Modi happens even as ties were tensed with Islamic countries last week over remarks by now suspended members of the ruling BJP party. The inflammatory remarks against the Prophet by suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma & expelled leader Naveen Jindal had led to the summoning of Indian envoys and statements by over 15 Islamic nations. UAE also issued a statement, even as its neighbouring country Qatar was the first to issue a statement and summon the Indian envoy.

WATCH WION LIVE HERE