Sunday, Nov 20, 2011

Gulf News

New Delhi: The relations between India and the UAE go back in history yet have always remained on an upward trajectory, resting on the firm foundations of political, economic and cultural links, the Indian government feels.

So much so that matters pertaining to the UAE are treated as foreign policy priorities by Indian policymakers.

Our relationship with the UAE is very, very significant. In fact, the UAE is a foreign policy priority for India. Since 1971, when the UAE came into being, ties between India and the UAE have evolved rapidly, Vishnu Prakash, the official spokesman of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, told Gulf News.

Today, India and the UAE serve as development partners. The Indian business community has made sizeable investments in the UAE, Prakash said.

He was talking about the political and diplomatic relations between the two countries ahead of the UAEs 40th National Day.

Last year saw the visit of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to India and the visit of Indian President Pratibha Patil to that country in November, he said.

As a matter of fact, a string of high-level visits was arranged in the last five years to give a boost to bilateral ties. We are encouraged by the attention being paid to political and diplomatic relations with India by the UAE. Such visits are instrumental in promoting peace and harmony, he said.

External affairs analyst Syeden Zaidi echoes these sentiments.

The UAE provides bread and butter to a sizeable skilled and unskilled Indian manpower. We have strong people-to-people contacts and superb cultural ties. Today, we have hundreds of weekly flights connecting the two countries. The best thing is that India and the UAE have no major areas of concern between them, Zaidi said.

Indian migration

The UAE hosts the largest expatriate Indian community. As many as 1.75 million Indians live and work there, constituting the largest expatriate population of the UAE, Zaidi said.

Indias contacts with the UAE date back several centuries, as a result of trade and commerce. More recently, the UAE has experienced a tremendous increase in the population of Indians who have migrated to the country as a result of opportunities in petroleum, construction and other industries, Zaidi said.

The Indian government is also appreciative of the manner in which Indian nationals are treated in the UAE.

People-to-people contacts and barter of textiles and spices from India in exchange for dates and pearls from the region have existed for centuries. Sharjah and Dubai were the main hubs for trade with the western coast of India and, in particular, the Malabar Coast, foreign policy analyst Deepak Seth said.

What drives the relations between India and the UAE is the convergence of views. The UAE is part of the extended neighbourhood of India, witnessing similar challenges and aspirations, Seth said.

Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) are believed to remit $100 billion (Dh367 billion) a year to India from all over the world. Of this, an estimated $20 billion is sent by NRIs from the UAE, a large number of whom are from the southern state of Kerala.

Zaidi believes that the discovery of oil allowed the UAE to increase and diversify its trade relations with India. During the first half of 2010, non-oil trade between India and the UAE stood at $20.4 billion.

Strong fundamentals

Today, India and UAE trade is $50 billion. It is one of the top three traders, in the same bracket as China.

While emphasising the possibilities of expanding trade, Prakash highlighted the tremendous scope for investing in India. He said that Indias fast-growing, stable economy with its strong fundamentals makes it an attractive investment destination.

Asked if there was any scope for improvement in India-UAE ties, Prakash said, Tremendous ... We are working towards stronger bilateral ties.

India and the UAE have generally enjoyed cordial relations, partly due to their shared history with the British presence in Asia, and partly due to the pre-colonial history of trade and commerce between the two nations.

By Karuna Madan, Correspondent

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