Modi hosts UAE President: Massive USD 200 bn trade target, LNG deal signed
New Delhi (PTI): India and the United Arab Emirates on Monday set a target of USD 200 billion in annual trade by 2032 and agreed to seal a strategic defence pact while boosting cooperation in energy, space and civil nuclear sectors with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan laying out a broad agenda to shore up ties.
Modi welcomed Al Nahyan at the Delhi airport with a hug and then they travelled together in the same vehicle to the prime minister's residence, where they held talks in the restricted as well as delegation-level formats.
"This has been a short, but extremely substantive visit," Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said at a media briefing after the UAE leader concluded his nearly three-and-a-half-hour visit that came amid increasing tensions in the Middle East and trade disruptions caused by Washington's policy on tariffs.
The two sides decided to explore a partnership in advanced nuclear technologies, including development of large nuclear reactors and small modular reactors, as well as cooperation in advanced reactor systems and nuclear power plant operations, he said.
A long-term agreement for the supply of 0.5 million metric tonnes of LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) annually was concluded by the two sides.
The UAE is India's second-largest supplier of LNG to India after Qatar.
Artificial Intelligence was identified as a priority area of cooperation and it was decided to collaborate on setting up a supercomputing cluster in India with the UAE partnership, Misri said, adding the Gulf nation will also look at investments for expanding data centre capacities in India.
The foreign secretary said the two sides also set a target of USD 200 billion in annual trade by 2032. The volume of two-way trade between the two sides was USD 84 billion in 2023-24.
The two sides also resolved to significantly expand their defence ties.
"A letter of intent was signed between the two sides to work towards concluding a framework agreement for a strategic defence partnership between India and the UAE," Misri said.
Another letter of intent was also signed for joint work in developing space infrastructure. Under this initiative, both sides will look to set up new launch complexes, satellite fabrication facilities, joint missions, space academy and training centres, the foreign secretary said.
A separate document was signed to facilitate the UAE's participation in the development of a special investment region in Gujarat's Dholera.
This initiative will look at the establishment of an international airport, a pilot training school, an MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) facility, a greenfield port, a smart urban township, as well as projects related to railway connectivity and energy infrastructure, Misri added.
The discussions between Modi and Al Nahyan focused on cooperation in several new and emerging areas, including new opportunities for civil nuclear cooperation in the light of the passage of the Shanti Act in India.
An agreement on food safety was also signed. It will provide for cooperation in the food sector and encourage food products and other agricultural exports from India to the UAE.
It will benefit the farmers of India and contribute to food security in the UAE, the foreign secretary said.
Both sides will also explore the possibility of setting up a "data embassy", Misri said.
This is a relatively new concept, but there will be work done to see how these can be set up under mutually recognised sovereignty agreements, he noted.
The foreign secretary said the situation in Yemen, Gaza and Iran was discussed at the talks but declined to elaborate.
"All of these issues were discussed between the leaders. I cannot get into the details at this stage, but yes, both leaders had the opportunity to share their views and opinions in detail on these issues," he said.
Misri said Modi and Al Nahyan unequivocally condemned cross-border terrorism and held that the perpetrators, supporters and financiers of all acts of terrorism must be brought to justice.
The UAE president expressed his support for the success of India's chairmanship of the BRICS grouping this year.
There has been a significant upswing in bilateral trade and people-to-people ties after New Delhi and Abu Dhabi inked an ambitious comprehensive economic partnership agreement in 2022.
The UAE president was seen off at the airport by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
