UAE Likely to Pledge $75 bn to India on Crown Prince's Visit

New Delhi: The UAE is likely to pledge an investment of $75 billion to India during the visit of Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayyed Al Nahyan on the occasion of Republic Day.

The Crown Prince, who is coming to India with a large ministerial and business delegation, will be the chief guest at the 68th Republic Day. He will be holding delegation-level talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, besides calling on the President and the Vice President.

Furthering trade and investments will be on top of the agenda when the two leaders meet. India and UAE will sign a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement. Apart from a MoU on investments into the National Investment Infrastructure fund, the two sides will also sign agreements on defence and maritime transport. India is looking to increase cruise tourism from the Western Coast of India to the UAE.

MEA officials confirmed that UAE is looking for a defence partner and during the visit India will offer to see arms, armoured vehicles and joint production of aircraft. MEA Secretary Amar Sinha said: “There have also been talks on the sale of Brahmos missiles but India will immediately offer only the equipment for which India holds the IPR rights.” Brahmos is a missile jointly produced by India and Russia.

The recent terror attack in Kandahar in which five UAE diplomats were killed is also likely to figure in talks. Sources said terrorism will figure prominently in talks and India will raise the issue of terror attacks in India being orchestrated by Pakistan. India’s Ambassador to UAE Navdeep Suri told CNN-News18, “Cooperation between India and UAE in intelligence sharing and counter terrorism is exceptional”.

Recently, there were reports that UAE government has seized properties of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim on the request of Indian authorities. When asked whether the Indian government has raised the issue with UAE, MEA Secretary Amar Sinha said, “Do you want to alert people about raids before steps are taken? Such things cannot be discussed publicly."