A Strategic Cooperation Agreement along with more than a dozen pacts including one pertaining to the USD 75 billion investment fund, committed by the UAE, will be signed tomorrow after the talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Briefing the reporters on the visit, Secretary Economic Relations Amar Sinha said "substantial" outcome is expected in the area of defence and security where they will "solidify" their cooperation given shared views on common threat. "Defence and security is emerging as a new area of cooperation based upon shared views and concerns about common threats. We are hoping that this visit would solidify the same," he said, adding there will be "substantial" outcome in the security and defence area.
Modi and Nahyan will hold one-on-one meeting at the Prime Minister's official residence before proceeding to Hyderabad House for delegation-level talks, Sinha said. Comprehensive discussions on bilateral, regional and international issues will take place between the two sides.
Noting that the UAE has the largest sovereign fund and they are looking at investment, Sinha said there was an agreement that they would invest nearly USD 75 billion in India in next couple of years. "During the visit, we are hoping to sign an MoU between their investment fund and our National Infrastructure Investment Fund (NIIF)" which will put in place a framework as to how the fund will be administered and which all sectors it can be invested in, the secretary said.
Maintaining that the decision to elevate the bilateral ties to strategic level had already been taken, Sinha said, "However, we are still signing an agreement which is more like an action plan which thrashes out of idea of strategic partnership and brings out concrete idea of what both sides are committed to do."On energy cooperation, Sinha said the UAE has decided to become a strategic partner in energy sector and will be investing and "filling one of our key strategic reserves"."We are hoping that the negotiations will conclude today and we will be able to sign an MoU on that," he added.
