“In the entire GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council), India’s relationship with the UAE would be the most multi-faceted, diversified and strong. Not to undermine the other relationships, but the UAE is our flagship relationship in this part of the world,” says Ausaf Sayeed, India’s former ambassador to Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
He was guest on The Gist, giving a perspective on Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the UAE last week. In fact, Modi has been to the UAE eight times since 2014, an indication of how seriously he views the relationship.
Ambassador Sayeed says Modi has established a “personal chemistry” with the UAE leadership and leaders from both countries have realised that geography ties them together and they have considerable bilateral interests.
Both leaders have taken the bilateral relationship to trilateral and even plurilateral levels. Case in point is the India-France-UAE trilateral, but the war in the Gulf has also setback efforts to broaden the scope of the relationship.
“When we floated the idea of IMEC (India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor), it was one of the futuristic ideas that came up during India’s presidency of the G20. Connecting India to Europe and making the Middle East the hub of connectivity, and taking to Israel and beyond,.”
But the Hamas attack on Israel derailed that plan and since then the region has been in a loop, Sayeed said. But he believes it may not remain that way for long and India must be prepared to seize the moment once normalcy returns.
This visit was therefore useful from many standpoints: the UAE has agreed to set up a strategic petroleum reserve of about five million barrels in India. This is primarily intended for the UAE but India can avail of it in the event of an emergency.
Add to that, Vadinar in Kachch is being developed as a hub for ship repair and ship maintenance. There is another purpose: the port here will be the receiving point for UAE oil being pumped through the Habshan-Fujairah pipeline.
Defence has got a leg-up with both sides seeking industrial collaboration and joint ventures. As for military to military, the special forces of both sides will hold joint training exercises with a view to building capacity and interoperability.
Tune in for more in this conversation with Ausaf Sayeed, former Indian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
