Transcript of Special Briefing by Foreign Secretary on the Official Visit of the President of UAE to India

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson:Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I welcome you to this Special Press Briefing by Foreign Secretary Shri Vikram Misri on the Official Visit of the President of UAE. We are also joined by our colleague in the Ministry, Additional Secretary (Gulf) Shri Aseem Mahajan. With that, I request Foreign Secretary to make his opening remarks. Sir, the floor is yours.

Shri Vikram Misri, Foreign Secretary: Thank you, Randhir. Good evening all. I apologize for the delay in this briefing, but the discussions stretched well beyond the scheduled hour. As you are all aware, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the President of the United Arab Emirates, has just concluded an Official Visit to New Delhi. This has been a short but an extremely substantive visit.

His Highness was received at the airport personally by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which is a special gesture that is characteristic of the extremely warm and close relationship that the two leaders share. They then traveled together from the airport to the Prime Minister's residence, where discussions were held both in the restricted format and then in expanded format where delegation members engaged with each other. A number of documents were also exchanged in the presence of the leaders. I'll share the details with you.

The importance of this visit can be gauged by the composition of the delegation accompanying His Highness, the President of the UAE. It comprised members of the Royal Families of both Abu Dhabi as well as Dubai, and several senior Ministers and officials. Amongst the members of the delegation were His Highness Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Managing Director of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority; His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of the UAE; His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Crown Prince of Dubai, also the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense of the UAE; and also His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who's the Deputy Chairman of the Presidential Court. In addition, there were the Secretary General of the Supreme Council for National Security, the Minister for Industry and Advanced Technology, the Minister of State for International Cooperation, the Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications, and the Minister of State for Defense Affairs.

So as I said, even for this short visit, this was a really, really high-powered delegation that accompanied the President. The talks between the leaders, as I said, were characterized by the warmth and special friendship between the two leaders that has become a characteristic of this relationship. There is a detailed Joint Statement that is being issued, which will be uploaded as soon as we finish here, as also a list of outcomes from this visit.

Let me quickly take you through the key outcomes that will, in a sense, define our bilateral engagement with the UAE in the immediate near future. First of all, a letter of intent was signed between the two sides to work towards concluding a framework agreement for a strategic defense partnership between India and the UAE.

A letter of intent was also signed between the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) and the UAE Space Agency for a joint initiative for space infrastructure development and its commercialization. Under this particular initiative, we will look to setting up new launch complexes, satellite fabrication facilities, joint missions, space academy, and training centers.

A letter of intent was signed on the UAE's participation in the development of a special investment region in Dholera in Gujarat. This is a mega partnership initiative that will look at the establishment of an international airport, a pilot training school, an MRO facility, a greenfield port, a smart urban township, as well as projects related to railway connectivity and energy infrastructure.

The UAE has always been a premier energy partner for India, and therefore building on this comprehensive energy partnership, a long-term agreement for the supply of 0.5 million metric tons of LNG per annum was concluded during the visit. The UAE is now the second largest supplier of LNG to India.

In addition, an MoU on food safety and technical requirements was also signed, which will provide for sanitary and quality parameters to facilitate trade, exchange, promotion of cooperation in the food sector, and encourage food products and other agricultural product exports from India to the UAE. It will benefit the farmers of India and contribute to food security in the UAE.

The discussions between the two leaders focused on several new and emerging areas of cooperation as well. In fact, to capitalize on the new opportunities for civil nuclear cooperation in the light of the passage of the SHANTI Act in India for sustainable harnessing and advancement of nuclear energy for transforming India, the two sides decided to explore partnership in advanced nuclear technologies, including development and deployment of large nuclear reactors and small modular reactors, as well as cooperation in advanced reactor systems, nuclear power plant operations and maintenance, and nuclear safety.

Artificial Intelligence was identified as a priority area of cooperation. It was decided to collaborate on setting up a supercomputing cluster in India with UAE partnership, and the UAE will also look at investments for expanding data center capacity in India. The UAE will also participate at a high level in the Artificial Intelligence summit that India is organizing in February 2026. Both sides will also explore the possibility of setting up a digital or a data embassy. This is a relatively new concept, but there will be work done to see how these can be set up under mutually recognized sovereignty agreements.

On the trade front, following the signing of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between the two countries in 2022, the bilateral trade has since crossed a hundred billion dollars, and in view of this, the two leaders decided to raise ambitions and look to double bilateral trade to 200 billion dollars by 2032. It was also decided to facilitate exports of the MSME industries to the West Asian, African, and Eurasian regions, and both sides will look to working expeditiously on several initiatives that are currently underway between them, including Bharat Mart, the Virtual Trade Corridor, and the Bharat-Africa-Setu initiatives.

UAE companies, DP World and the First Abu Dhabi Bank, have been granted permissions to open their offices and operations in GIFT City in Gujarat. The two sides have also decided to work towards interlinking national payment platforms for promoting trade. This will build on the already operational Local Currency Settlement system, the launch of UPI in the UAE, and the Jaywan card.

Very importantly, the two sides also decided to work on establishing House of India in Abu Dhabi. This will be a unique cultural space that will include a state-of-the-art museum that will reflect India's ancient cultural heritage and be a lasting symbol of the India-UAE partnership.

The Prime Minister also appreciated the UAE's decision to provide historical artifacts for the National Maritime Heritage Complex that is coming up at Lothal. Both sides also agreed to work together in the field of polar science, including joint expeditions and institutional cooperation.

As you know, the UAE hosts one of the largest communities of Indian origin anywhere in the world. There are today possibly close to 4.5 million people from India living and working in the UAE. And the Prime Minister expressed his deep appreciation to President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed for looking after the interests and the welfare of these citizens of ours from India. The two sides also agreed to further nurture vibrant people-to-people ties through youth exchanges.

Finally, the two leaders also had the opportunity to exchange views in detail on regional developments in West Asia. And they expressed support for all efforts in promoting peace, security, stability and prosperity in the region. They unequivocally condemned cross-border terrorism and for the perpetrators, supporters, and financiers of all acts of terrorism to be brought to justice.

The UAE President expressed his support for the success of India's chairmanship of the BRICS grouping this year and as I said, also confirmed the UAE's high-level participation in the AI Impact Summit that is being held next month.

As we speak, External Affairs Minister, Dr. Jaishankar is seeing off the President at the airport. My final thought would be that though this has been a visit of, I would say just about three hours, three and a half hours, it has been an extremely substantive visit. You can see that in terms of the outcomes and I think this particular visit has contributed to setting, in fact, the direction of work between India and the UAE in the very near future. I'll stop there. If there are any questions, I'd be happy to try and answer them. Thank you.

Kallol Bhattacherjee, The Hindu:Sir, Kallol from The Hindu. The West Asian region has a history of hostilities among various countries going all the way back to say Iran-Iraq war. And often there have been requests from these warring countries for help from India. And, today we are seeing the situation in the region between Saudi Arabia and the UAE. And this sort of a strategic defense partnership that you have just mentioned sir, how do, I mean, how do we read it? Like is it in India's long-term interest to get engaged with powers in this region, especially in the given hostile condition that the region finds itself in? Does it serve India's long-term security interest in the region considering the region also holds millions of Indian workers and a source of energy for India?

Sahil Pandey, ANI News Agency: Sir, I am Sahil Pandey from ANI News Agency. Did UAE's position on Yemen conflict come into the discussion and was there any alignment of sorts between India and UAE on this? Thank you.

Rishabh, Times Now:Sir, adding to what Sahil said, Rishabh from Times Now. Sir, did the discussion on Gaza peace program and the board of peace for Gaza came into discussion? And since trade was discussed heavily, was tariff also discussed in the meeting?

Divya, Indian Express:Sir, Divya from Indian Express. What were the discussions, if any, about US's possible involvement in Iran and you know the situation thereof? And if we could get any details on the digital embassy that you spoke about?

Megha, NewsX:Good evening sir, this is Megha from NewsX. Any conversation that happened between the two Heads of Governments on IMEC?

Shri Vikram Misri, Foreign Secretary:Okay. Kallol, I think you have set out a certain framing for your question in terms of what is happening in the region. But our involvement on the defense and security front with a country from the region does not then necessarily lead to the conclusion that we will get involved in particular ways in the conflicts of the region. There is already a great deal of content in defense cooperation and engagement on the defense front between India and the UAE, and in fact between India and a few other countries in the region as well.

As you are aware, in last April, so starting already almost a year ago, the UAE Defense Minister and the Crown Prince of Dubai, who was on this visit by the way, he had visited India. This was a watershed moment in our bilateral defense cooperation. We then elevated the institutional framework of defense dialogue between the two countries to the level of Secretaries, Vice Ministers between the two countries. Our air assets have been regularly participating in the Dubai Airshow.

There have been last year alone, if I recall correctly, three Service Chiefs from the UAE have visited India. Our own Army Chief was in the UAE not too long ago, I think just earlier this month. And there have been regular staff talks at the level of various services as well as bilateral naval as well as army exercises between the two countries. In fact, the last exercise between the army was held in December 2025.

So, it's really building on this very broad basis and considerable experience in the defense and security cooperation field that a letter of intent was signed today to work on concluding a framework agreement for strategic defense partnership in order to expand the existing bilateral defense cooperation across a number of areas.

And the idea would be to see what else it is that we can do. For instance, we plan to look at defense industrial cooperation, defense innovation, partnerships in advanced technology in the area of defense, as well as expanding the linkages on training, on education, perhaps training between the Special Forces of the two countries, look at defense threats in the cyberspace domain, counter-terrorism which is an area of interest for both countries.

So, I would really characterize it as a natural evolution from the already considerable defense cooperation between the two countries, and not necessarily a response to any specific event that may have taken place in the region, or of any intent to get involved in a hypothetical future scenario in the region.

Sahil and Rishabh and Divya, I think you've all asked questions related to various geopolitical issues that have hit headlines from this region in recent times, whether it is the developments in Yemen or developments related to the conflict in Gaza or the situation in Iran. I can only tell you that 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.

On trade and tariffs, mostly this discussion was about bilateral trade and the salutary impact that the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership has had on bilateral trade and how we need to expand it in the coming years.

On digital embassy, it's an interesting new concept. It relates to the effort of a country to in a sense find a safe harbor for data that it considers of national importance and strategic value. There are not too many successful examples of this concept having been executed in too many places in the world but there are a few. It is a new concept for us as well. We may have to work out a regulatory framework for getting into this, but it is an interesting area in which the UAE has expressed some interest and we are willing to work with them and see how we can set this up while of course respecting the fact that data has certain sovereignty related issues attached to it. We will work through these issues.

On IMEC, Megha, you would be aware that India and the UAE already have an initiative in the form of the virtual trade corridor which has been pilot tested in a sense and this virtual trade corridor, essentially in a sense you can call it a software building block of IMEC going into the future. Right now it is at a bilateral level between India and the UAE, and once launched at full scale it can be replicated across the entire corridor as and when developments on that front take place.

Sudhi Ranjan Sen, Bloomberg:Thank you sir. Sudhi Ranjan from Bloomberg sir. One clarification sir on the LNG supply contract if you could give us the figure because I missed it, my apologies on that. And also sir on the Dholera investment if you could give us details of what, or a dollar figure, if that has been decided in the talks sir.

Amiti, Hindu Business Line:Amiti from Hindu Business Line. Sir, in the discussions on the India-UAE CEPA, did gold come up since you know gold was one of the first items that created some issues after the trade agreement was in place? There was a spike in imports and then India had put in place restrictions. So did it come up in the discussions?

Neeraj Dubey, Prabhasakshi:Namaskar sir. Main Neeraj Dubey Prabhasakshi se. Isse pehle sir aapne dusre prashn mein jo teen sawalon ke aapne jawab samanvit tareeke se diye usko Hindi mein bas dohra dijiye sir. Gaza peace wala aur baaki jo teen sawal aapne jo liye the uska ek saath sir.

[Approximate Translation: Question in Hindi]Hello sir. I am Neeraj Dubey from Prabhasakshi. Sir, earlier, in response to another question, you had given combined answers to three questions. Please just repeat that in Hindi, sir. The one about the Gaza peace proposal and the other three questions you had taken together-please repeat all of that together, sir.

Shri Vikram Misri, Foreign Secretary:Sudhi, on LNG, this is a sale and purchase agreement between Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company Gas, ADNOC Gas. And it's a long term agreement providing for the purchase of 0.5 million metric tons per annum of LNG by HPCL from ADNOC Gas over a period of 10 years starting from 2028. So those are the details that I have immediately on that.

On Dholera, there is no dollar figure right now because we are still looking at which projects will actually go into the package but we are looking at pursuing or attracting investment from the UAE in the development of the special investment region in Dholera in Gujarat which essentially focuses on infrastructure and included in this infrastructure, you're aware that there is already a cargo terminal functional in Dholera. The idea would be to expand this and add a full-fledged international airport in Dholera and annexed to that would be things like a pilot training school, an MRO facility and also other infrastructure projects as I said, ports and smart urban township, railways, energy projects etc. that would come up. This will be pursued between the UAE and the Government of Gujarat and we will provide details as specific projects get agreed between the two sides.

On gold, Amita, no. I don't think it got down to that level of detail where this particular issue came up but I think you should address the question to the Ministry of Commerce which might have details on what the exact status right now is with regard to this particular issue.

Neeraj main us sawal ke silsile mein yeh keh raha tha ki jo dono leaders ke beech baat-cheet hui, usme jo abhi Gaza mein jo peace plan hai usko lekar jo abhi haal hi mein kuch developments hue hain unke baare mein dono leaders ke beech mein baat-cheet hui. Iran mein jo abhi haal hi mein sthiti bani hui thi, wahan pe protests hue the aur ek tarah se uthal-puthal wahan pe macha hua tha toh uske baare mein bhi dono leaders ke beech mein baat-cheet hui aur jo hum pichle ek mahine se Yemen mein dekh rahe hain wahan pe jo haalaat bane hue hain unke baare mein bhi dono leaders ke beech mein baat-cheet hui.

[Approximate Translation: Answer in Hindi]Neeraj, in connection with that question, I was saying that in the conversation between the two leaders, they discussed the recent developments related to the peace plan in Gaza. They also discussed the recently developments in Iran, where protests had taken place and there had been a kind of upheaval there. And they also spoke about the situation we have been witnessing in Yemen over the past one month and the conditions prevailing there.

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson:Thank you sir. With that, ladies and gentlemen, we come to the close of this press briefing. Thank you.

New Delhi
January 19, 2026