India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Tuesday agreed to enhance defence and Coast Guard cooperation, even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Dubai Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan explored ways to bolster bilateral ties in key areas such as trade, technology and connectivity.
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, who is the deputy prime minister and defence minister of the UAE, is on his first official visit to India as the crown prince. The delegation includes several ministers and top business leaders, and the crown prince is also scheduled to visit Mumbai for business meetings.
Dubai, one of the seven emirates in the UAE, has played a “key role in advancing the India-UAE Comprehensive Strategic Partnership” and Sheikh Hamdan’s “special visit reaffirms our deep-rooted friendship and paves the way for even stronger collaboration in the future”, Modi said in a social media post after meeting the crown prince.
Modi and Sheikh Hamdan discussed Dubai’s role in strengthening India-UAE ties across defence, trade, technology, space, connectivity and people-to-people ties, external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on social media.
Sheikh Hamdan said on social media his conversation with Modi “reaffirmed the strength of UAE-India ties which is built on trust, shaped by history, and driven by a shared vision to create a future full of opportunity, innovation and lasting prosperity”.
{{/usCountry}}Sheikh Hamdan said on social media his conversation with Modi “reaffirmed the strength of UAE-India ties which is built on trust, shaped by history, and driven by a shared vision to create a future full of opportunity, innovation and lasting prosperity”.
{{/usCountry}}The crown prince held substantial talks with defence minister Rajnath Singh, during which the two sides agreed that defence cooperation should be scaled up to match the progress in trade and business. They also decided to deepen and formalise cooperation between the Coast Guard forces of both countries through a memorandum of understanding (MoU), the defence ministry said in a readout.
Singh said on social media he had a “productive meeting” with Sheikh Hamdan. “For India, the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with the UAE is of immense priority. In the coming years, we are eager to work closely in areas such as defence cooperation, co-production and co-development projects, innovation and technology,” he said.
The two leaders identified training exchanges as a key area of cooperation that will enable understanding of each other’s defence ecosystems and accelerate defence ties, the readout said.
“They were convinced that close collaboration between the defence industries should be an integral part of the bilateral cooperation,” the readout said, adding that the two leaders had emphasised the need to increase defence industry collaboration and discussed opportunities in defence manufacturing.
Singh and Sheikh Hamdan welcomed the India-UAE Defence Partnership Forum, which has the potential to result in strategic joint ventures and co-production projects. “They also agreed to focus on complementarities for the two countries in the Make-in-India and Make-in-Emirates initiatives,” the readout said.
India and the UAE had signed a defence cooperation MoU in 2003, and another MoU on defence industry cooperation in 2017. Bilateral defence interactions have grown steadily and there are regular high-level exchanges between the service chiefs, while warships of both countries have regularly made port calls. The two countries also hold an annual defence dialogue to discuss security and defence cooperation .
External affairs minister S Jaishankar also met Sheikh Hamdan. “Value his positive sentiments for our wide-ranging cooperation and vibrant ties,” Jaishankar said on social media.
On the margins of Sheikh Hamdan’s visit, the Dubai Chambers explored new trade and investment prospects with 200 business leaders at the Dubai-India Business Forum in Mumbai.
Non-oil trade between India and the UAE was worth $54.2 billion in 2023, while Dubai-India trade was $45.4 billion during the same period. Dubai’s economic ties with India have grown rapidly over the past five years, and its investments in India are worth $4.68 billion.
In 2024, a total of 16,623 Indian companies joined the Dubai Chamber of Commerce, taking the total to more than 70,000 Indian companies. Dubai welcomed 3.14 million visitors from South Asia in 2024, with India accounting for the largest share.