India, UAE cement ties with 10 new pacts for collaboration

India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have signed 10 new agreements for bilateral collaboration in various fields, including key sectors like energy, infrastructure, investments, and management of archives, in a bid to further strengthen their bilateral relationship. 

The 10 memoranda of understanding and agreements were signed during the meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Tuesday, foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra said in New Delhi on Wednesday.

He said the MoU in the field of electricity interconnection and trade will focus on green hydrogen and energy storage, while ensuring energy security.

India and the UAE also signed a formal agreement on a trade corridor that aims to connect Europe with India through the Middle East by sea and rail, the framework agreement for which was signed on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi.

While the framework agreement on the India, Middle East Economic Corridor (IMEC) that will connect India, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel and Europe was released during Prime Minister’s ongoing visit to the UAE, details of the agreement are yet to be made public.

The aim of the IMEC is to secure trade and commerce through cooperation among participating countries on logistics platforms so as to ensure uninterrupted supply chains.

“One of the aims is to see how quickly the IMEC gets operated and benefits the core objective of stronger, deeper, more extensive regional connectivity between the parties involved,” Kwatra said.

The MoU on Digital Infrastructure Projects will create a framework for wide-ranging cooperation, including investment cooperation, in the digital infrastructure sector and also facilitate the sharing of technical knowledge, skills and expertise.

This will also require collaboration among government agencies and regulatory authorities to focus on key areas of digital space, including high power computing, digital innovation, and platforms relating to management of data, he said.

The bilateral investment treaty will both protect existing investments and facilitate further flows of capital between the two countries.

Under the MoU on the Development of the National Maritime Heritage Complex (NMHC), UAE and India will cooperate conserve the Maritime Heritage Complex at Lothal, Gujarat.

The National Library and Archives of the UAE and the National Archives of India will extend bilateral cooperation in the restoration and preservation of archival material.

Under the digital infrastructure cooperation, the two countries will interlink the instant payment platforms - UPI (India) and AANI (UAE) – to facilitate seamless cross-border transactions.

Besides, the two countries have also agreed on inter-linking domestic debit/credit cards - RuPay (India) with JAYWAN (UAE) – a move that would strengthen financial sector cooperation and enhance the cross-border role of the RuPay card