NEW DELHI: His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, attended an official reception hosted by Indian President Pranab Mukherjee in honour of his visit to India.
Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed was on a three-day state visit to India on the invitation by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend India’s 68th Republic Day celebrations as the chief guest.
The official reception on Wednesday night started with the playing of the National Anthems of the UAE and India. Following that, Shaikh Mohammad shook hands with Indian leaders, including Vice-President Mohammad Hamid Ansari and Modi, in addition to ministers, senior government officials, members of parliament and business leaders. President Mukherjee, for his part, shook hands with members of the UAE delegation which is accompanying Shaikh Mohammad on his state visit.
Mukherjee hosted a banquet in honour of Shaikh Mohammad and the accompanying delegation.
In a speech delivered at the event, President Mukherjee said: “I warmly recall your visit to India nearly a year ago, and I am happy to receive you once again this time as our honoured chief guest as we celebrate India’s 68th Republic Day.”
He added: “Your state visit is a testimony to our enduring bonds and time-tested friendship. Our engagement today is driven by remarkable similarities in the aspirations of our two peoples and the ideals on which our two nations are based.”
He said India’s relations with the UAE were deeply rooted in history. “We have, in recent times, expanded our ties into a wide-ranging relationship of political, economic, defence and security cooperation. It’s a matter of immense satisfaction that we have, today, signed a framework agreement on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and that we both desire to develop it to its maximum potential.”
President Mukherjee said India values the UAE as a trusted partner in India’s energy security, welcoming the UAE’s participation in establishing India’s Strategic Petroleum Reserves. He added: “We seek a deeper energy partnership with you — in the form of joint ventures in refineries and petrochemicals projects in India, participation of our companies in upstream projects in our country and joint exploration in third countries.”
On bilateral relations between India and the UAE, he said: “It’s a matter of satisfaction that even as we strengthen our ongoing engagement and cooperation, our governments are currently exploring new avenues to expand it. Joint defence production, space and renewable energy have been identified as priorities as we proceed.”
In conclusion, he said: “Your Highness, our people value the friendship of the United Arab Emirates. We deeply appreciate your commitment to enhancing our bilateral cooperation across the board — and the personal contributions of President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan in strengthening our relations to a close comprehensive partnership. We wish His Highness, the President, good health and a long and happy life.”
For his part, Shaikh Mohammad delivered a speech at the official event. He said: “Let me first express my deep gratitude to the Indian government and the Indian people for their warm welcome and generous hospitality. In like manner, I’d like to say that I was deeply touched by the kind invitation to share these historic Republic Day celebrations with you. If anything, this invitation is a reflection of the special relationship that our two countries enjoy.”
On UAE-India relations, he said: “Our discussions were also held in the same spirit of warmth and friendship, which reflected positively on their outcome and left me with great satisfaction about the direction our relationship. It’s also refreshing to see how the Indian leadership is keen on strengthening relations with the UAE, which makes me even more confident about the prospects of the Strategic Partnership Agreement that we signed.”
He added: “Fostering our relationship with India is a strategic choice for the UAE under the leadership of His Highness Shaikh Khalifa, especially in light of our identical views on regional and international issues. No doubt, our Strategic Partnership Agreement will make our relationship stronger at the political, security and economic levels, including mutual investments.”
Shaikh Mohammad continued to praise the strong relations between the two nations: “As never before, our relationship has reached impressive heights which bring me great satisfaction. In fact, I dare say that I look forward to seeing our relationship reach even more towering heights. I believe that the UAE with its unique development experience and Islamic and Arab background and India with its inimitable and successful development experience and its unique model of coexistence can work together to push for peace and stability in Asia and the Middle East. This makes me even more optimistic about the future of our relationship.”
The reception was attended by Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs; Shaikh Hamad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chief of the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince’s Court; Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation; and other senior ministers and officials.
From the Indian side, it was attended by a group of ministers and senior officials.
