UAE envoy Abdulnasser Alshaali praises India's G20 leadership, says honoured by New Delhi's invitation

Abdulnasser Alshaali, the ambassador of UAE to India, expressed his country's honour at being invited to the G20 Summit by the Indian government. As the president of the grouping, India has extended the invitation to UAE, and Ambassador Alshaali praised the Indian government's efforts in organizing the summit.

Speaking to WION's Sidhant Sibal, the ambassador said, "We are honoured by the invitation by the Indian government and the Indian government has been doing great and I'm sure they will continue to do so until the Summit in September."

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Regarding investments in India, including in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Ambassador Alshaali noted that the private sector and businesses have their own strategies and ways of investing. He spoke to WION at a mega iftar hosted by the UAE embassy which has the entire diplomatic community converging and breaking bread together as the month of Ramzan is celebrated. The Iftar saw the participation of India's External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar as well showing the strong momentum in ties between the 2 countries.

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Here is the complete interview:

WION: You hosted this iftar, which saw the participation of Delhi's diplomatic community, and the EAM Jaishankar. Truly a momentous occasion...

Abdulnasser Alshaali: My special thanks to everyone who made it here today, especially to Dr Jaishankar for taking the time out of his busy schedule to make it here. Ramadan is about bringing people together and this is what the words behind me say. It's just about bringing everyone together. And so, we all fast in our different ways, regardless of where we come from, and Ramadan is the month of fasting for us. So there are quite a few things that we can connect in and nothing is better to connect than during breaking fast together or having a meal together.

WION: So how do you characterize India UAE relationship because this is a relationship which has really grown in the last five years.

Abdulnasser Alshaali: That has, I can tell you that we're only starting. There will be so many exciting things that will come up. We've been working on quite a few things. There are multiple tracks in different sectors that we are keen on. India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) was the beginning of putting some sort of an economic framework to increase bilateral trade and to achieve certain targets. But CEPA is not everything and there are quite a few things coming up in the pipeline.

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WION: I2U2 has been the outcome of the Abrahim accords, given it led to the normalization of relations between Israel and UAE and then the emergence of this grouping. Where do you see this grouping? Going ahead and do you see a summit-level meeting happening, or an in-person summit happening very soon?

Abdulnasser Alshaali: Well, I2U2 is an economic platform and so there are quite a few projects that are being discussed among the four countries and a couple of them would see the light of day soon enough. In terms of a summit. I cannot confirm this at this moment, but I'm sure the details will come out whenever that has been decided.

WION: So the Abraham Accords, were talking about that there have been a lot of dividends but today we are seeing a conflict that has happened in West Asia in terms of Israel and Palestine and other countries as well. Do you think that it's going to impact the Abraham accord, the good vibe that it has created?

Abdulnasser Alshaali: Well, the Abraham Accords have been joined by countries who are keen on establishing bilateral ties with Israel and expanding their economic relations with that country. That being said, this means that we are still interested in the same things that we have been always interested in. We still believe in a two-state solution. We're still going to pursue that and push for that. Whenever there is some sort of escalation, our main purpose and our main goal isto make sure that the region does not go through such escalation, and does not go into turmoil, because it isn't the region's interest and in our interest that we are in a neighbourhood that is peace, prosperous and stable.

WION: So, India is the president of the G 20 and as the President of the grouping, it has invited your country as well. How do you see India the invitation and India hosting the meetings under its mega presidency?

Abdulnasser Alshaali: We are honoured by the invitation from the Indian government. The Indian government has been doing great and I'm sure they will continue to do so until the Summit in September. We have been invited as a guest country in the past and I can tell you that the work that we have seen on the ground, and I have attended a few of those meetings myself, is just phenomenal. It's a testament to the work, effort and time that the Indian government has been putting into this.

WION: So my last question is you we have been investing a lot in India, including in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir recently. We saw the mega investment plan that has been announced, what more we can expect from UAE for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir in terms of investment are also for the people of the Union Territory?

Abdulnasser Alshaali: Well, I cannot speak on behalf of the private sector, on behalf of businesses. Businesses and the private sector they have their own strategies or their own way of doing things. And it will also depending on the investment initiatives, incentives, whatever facilities are being given to investors. So yes, there have been a couple of businesses present. But whether this will mean that will be higher, that there will be higher investments in the future is up to the businesses themselves.

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