WNAM MONITORING: The UAE and India approved the framework for a strategic defense partnership on Friday during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the Gulf nation, the Indian Foreign Ministry said.
The UAE and India also signed pacts on strategic petroleum reserves and supply of liquefied petroleum gas, the ministry said in a statement.
Under the strategic defense partnership, “the two sides have agreed on deepening defense industrial collaboration and cooperation on innovation and advanced technology, training, exercises, maritime security, cyber defense, secure communications and information exchange,” it said.
The UAE’s decision last month to leave OPEC is expected to boost its output and help importing countries such as India.
The US and Israeli war on Iran, now in its third month, has roiled global energy markets with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital chokepoint for the flow of around 20 percent of global oil. It has also disrupted transportation and business across the Gulf as Iranian strikes hit Gulf countries, including the UAE, before a fragile ceasefire was reached last month.
In January, Abu Dhabi and New Delhi signed a $3 billion deal for India to buy LNG from the UAE, its third largest trading partner, as well as a letter of intent to work toward forming a strategic defense partnership.
In its statement on Friday, the Indian foreign government also announced UAE investments worth $5 billion, pointing to past deals including Emirates NBD’s acquisition of a 60 percent stake in RBL Bank last year for $3 billion, and Abu Dhabi’s IHC $1 billion investment in Sammaan.
