4 min readNew DelhiApr 8, 2025 09:15 PM IST
First published on: Apr 8, 2025 at 09:15 PM IST
The visiting Crown Prince of Dubai, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Tuesday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and discussed trade ties and stepping up defence manufacturing collaboration.
The Crown Prince, who is also the UAE’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar as well.
Modi posted on X after the meeting: “Dubai has played a key role in advancing the India-UAE Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. This special visit reaffirms our deep-rooted friendship and paves the way for even stronger collaboration in the future.”
Recalling his visit to the UAE last year during which he participated in the World Government Summit in Dubai as Guest of Honour, the Prime Minister said Sheikh Hamdan’s visit “signified generational continuity in the strong and historic ties between India and the UAE, emphasizing the enduring partnership built on mutual trust and a shared vision for the future”.
“They discussed ways to further strengthen the India-UAE Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, especially in the areas of trade, investments, defence, energy, technology, education, sports and people-to-people ties,” a PMO statement said.
PM Modi expressed his gratitude to the leadership of the UAE for ensuring the welfare of around 4.3 million Indians living in the UAE, the statement said.
According to a Defence Ministry statement, Rajnath and Sheikh Hamdan “expressed happiness on the current defence cooperation through institutional mechanisms, military exercises, exchange of training programmes”.
“Both ministers acknowledged that defence cooperation needs to be scaled up to match the progress made in other areas such as trade and business… They identified training exchanges as one of the key areas of defence cooperation,” it said.
According to the statement, the two leaders said that close collaboration between the defence industries should be an integral part of the bilateral cooperation. They also discussed opportunities for enhancing their partnership in defence manufacturing.
Rajnath posted on X that the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with the UAE is of immense priority for India. “In the coming years, we are eager to work closely in areas such as defence cooperation, co-production and co-development projects, innovation and technology. Both India and the UAE are committed to work towards peace and prosperity in the region,” he said.
The Defence Cooperation MoU with the UAE was signed in 2003, and an MoU on Defence Industry Cooperation was signed in 2017.
Earlier in the day, External Affairs Minister Jaishankar welcomed the Crown Prince, who was on his first official visit to India.
He was welcomed with a ceremonial guard of honour and received by Union Minister of State for Tourism & Petroleum and Natural Gas, Suresh Gopi.
Following engagements in Delhi, he will visit Mumbai and participate in a business roundtable involving top Indian and Emirati business leaders.
The roundtable will explore opportunities for increased trade and investment in traditional sectors such as infrastructure and energy, as well as emerging fields like fintech, innovation and sustainability.
The interaction is aimed at further accelerating economic cooperation and shaping a forward-looking commercial partnership between the two nations.
Dubai has been a hub in India’s commercial and cultural exchanges with the UAE. The strong people-to-people ties are underpinned by the large Indian diaspora in the Emirates — estimated at 4.3 million — with a significant majority residing in Dubai.
In a post on X, the spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Randhir Jaiswal, said that the Crown Prince’s visit marked a significant milestone in the India-UAE relationship.
Crown Prince of Dubai, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, meets Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (Photo: X/ @narendramodi) 
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