New Delhi: A small meeting held in Delhi on Monday gave a big message to the affairs of South Asia. UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan had come to India for a few hours, but the decisions of this visit proved to have a far-reaching impact. At the time when Pakistan was calling the $20 billion try-on with Saudi Arabia a big success, India and the UAE had set a target of taking bilateral trade to $200 billion.
Why did India and Pakistan start stuff compared?
The Pakistan government recently spoken a trade and investment target of $20 billion with Saudi Arabia. But the ground reality is that the trade between the two countries is currently only virtually 6 billion dollars. Islamabad is having to make long efforts plane for the initial investment of $5 billion. On the other hand, India and UAE have once crossed the trademark of 100 billion dollars, and now work has started on the plan to double it.
What was decided in that one-and-a-half-hour meeting?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself had reached the airport to meet the UAE President. Without this, limited-time talks were held at the Prime Minister's residence, in which touchable decisions were taken on future partnerships.
According to government officials, without the CEPA try-on was signed in 2022, trade between the two countries has increased rapidly. Now the focus is on ensuring that small and medium Indian businessmen moreover get the goody of this partnership and can unhook their products to West Asia, Africa and Europe.
What will the money be used for?
India and UAE have chosen the path of uncontrived investment instead of loans. There is a plan to build a new airport, smart township and modern port in the Dholera region of Gujarat. Apart from this, joint work will moreover be washed-up in areas like space technology, satellite manufacturing, nuclear energy, strained intelligence and data centers.
Even in the defense sector, both countries will no longer be limited to just ownership weapons but will move towards manufacturing them together.
Is this difference only of money or of thinking also?
Experts say that the difference is not just of money, but moreover of intentions and trust. Pakistan's target of $20 billion is still on paper and a major part of it is debt.
Whereas India and the UAE's target of $200 billion has once been set on a strong trade basis. India and UAE have the topics to invest the same value of $5 billion, which Pakistan has been trying for months to get, in a single project.
What did the UAE president say?
While returning from India, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed said that the meeting with Prime Minister Modi was very positive. He expressed conviction that both the countries will move forward together in new areas of technology, trade and minutiae in the coming years and the people of both the countries will directly goody from this.
