UAE - It will be an "honour" to receive the 'Order of Zayed' - the highest civilian decoration conferred by the UAE government - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said. Modi will arrive in the UAE tonight on the second leg of his five-day visit to three countries.

"Frequent high-level interactions between the UAE and India testify our vibrant relations," he said, adding that the UAE is India's third-largest trade partner and fourth-largest exporter of crude oil. "The qualitative enhancement of these ties is among one of our foremost foreign policy achievements. The visit would further strengthen our multifaceted bilateral ties with UAE."

The Indian Prime Minister will meet His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces. He said he would discuss the "entire gamut of bilateral relations as well as regional and international issues of mutual interest" with Sheikh Mohamed.

The two leaders will jointly release a stamp to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. "I will also formally launch RuPay card to expand the network of cashless transactions abroad," he said.

The UAE will be the first country in the Middle East to witness the launch of the card, which has been described as "an Indian indigenous equivalent of Mastercard or Visa".

Modi left New Delhi for France on Thursday to attend some bilateral and multilateral programmes there. From France, he will travel to the UAE and Bahrain, before returning to France to attend the G7 Summit.

The trip to Bahrain would be the first ever prime ministerial visit from India to Bahrain. He will meet His Highness Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, King of Bahrain, and other leaders, besides interacting with the Indian diaspora.

"I will be blessed to be present at the formal beginning of the redevelopment of the temple of Shreenathji - the oldest in the Gulf region - in the wake of the auspicious festival of Janmashtami. I am confident that this visit would further deepen our relationship across sectors," Modi said.

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