UAE and India deepen partnership in defence, space and food security

As part of his third state visit to India, the UAE President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of the Republic of India, were witnesses to the exchange of several agreements, memoranda of understanding, and letters of intent aimed at strengthening and advancing cooperation between the two countries.

This includes a strategic defence partnership between the two countries, joint collaboration in the space industry, and the Sales and Purchase Agreement between ADNOC Gas and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), which has now made India the largest buyer of liquified natural gas from the UAE.

According to the UAE ministry, the following documents were exchanged:

Defence partnership: Letter of Intent on a Strategic Defence Partnership, exchanged by His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs of India.

LNG deal with BPCL: Sales and Purchase Agreement between ADNOC Gas and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), exchanged by Dr Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and Managing Director and Group CEO of ADNOC, and Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas of India.

Space collaboration: Letter of Intent between the UAE Space Agency and the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) to launch a joint initiative to enable space industry development and commercial collaboration. It was exchanged by Reem bint Ebrahim Al Hashimy, Minister of State for International Cooperation, and Vikram Misri, Foreign Secretary of India.

Food safety: An MoU on Food Safety and Technical Requirements, between the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, and the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), Ministry of Commerce and Industry of India.

Investment cooperation: Letter of Intent on Investment Cooperation between the UAE Ministry of Investment and the Government of Gujarat regarding the development of Dholera Special Investment Region. The document was exchanged by Saeed bin Mubarak Al Hajeri, Minister of State, and Vikram Misri, Foreign Secretary.