When 149 Emirati soldiers marched under the baton of Brigadier Obaid Al Zahumi on Rajpath on the rain-fed morning of January 26 in the Indian capital, it was an incredibly historic moment not just for the UAE but also for the millions of Indians who call the UAE their second home.
For the UAE Armed Forces, which has served in a variety of theatres around the world in times of war and peace — from Kuwait, Somalia and Kosovo to Yemen and Afghanistan to demining operations in Lebanon and humanitarian assistance in Iraq — it was an appropriate endorsement of their long march of evolution to one of the world’s most advanced forces. For India, it marked the blooming of a partnership that has moved beyond its bedrock of oil, trade and labour.
At the Republic Day parade in India, where His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, was the Chief Guest, dozens of dignitaries from the UAE watched with pride and wonder as the UAE contingent marched past: The first Arab military contingent to set foot on Rajpath. Among the officials and business leaders travelling with the UAE delegation to India, many conversed fluently in Hindi. Some reminisced about the golden era of Bollywood, while others sought to relive the nostalgia through the biryani of Karim’s or the kebabs of Bukhara.
It is this deep social engagement that brought the UAE and India close in the first place — from the distinct smell of oudh in a corner of Connaught Place to Arabesque houses in remote pockets of Kerala, the UAE is a familiar concept for millions of Indians. Just as Arabic would be par for the course in the trading districts of Calicut, many Emiratis also fondly recall their days spent in Bombay — as Mumbai was known then — in pursuit of a medical degree or simply attending school. From the roots of such relations, a robust cultural exchange blossomed over the ensuing decades — from translation of Indian poetry into Arabic to arts and films to frequent interactions between the creative communities across both shores of the Arabian Sea. This deep-rooted and age-old contact between people has now translated into a burgeoning partnership between the two governments and gained new momentum from the two state visits of Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed to India within a year, as well as the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the UAE in August 2015 — the first by an Indian Prime Minister in 34 years.
Apart from the sheer weight of the bonhomie generated by such close political embrace, this momentum also stems from a recalibration of long-term strategic priorities for both nations — while some areas of long-standing cooperation have been renewed with vigour, other sunrise sectors of collaboration have also emerged. An agreement for setting up a strategic storage for crude from Adnoc in southern India, signed during the visit of Shaikh Mohammad, is one instance of the latter. While energy was always among the core elements of partnership between the UAE and India, it will now be defined by the contours of energy security rather than simple import-export benchmarks.
It is therefore hardly a surprise that the agreement that announces the arrival of a new era in UAE-India relations is the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two nations. In the works since the visit of Modi to the UAE, this is a paradigm shift in bilateral relations. On one hand, the elevation of their decades-old ties is a mutual recognition that the UAE now stands among the world’s most advanced nations in terms of social and economic indicators, while India is among the world’s fastest-growing economies offering unprecedented potential for investment. On the other hand, the strategic direction of the partnership also indicates the congruence that both nations aim to achieve in defence and security cooperation as well as counter-terror objectives. Increasingly aware of each other’s strengths, the pact therefore offers hope for an enduring partnership as both countries seek common ground while respecting each other’s diversities.
As an instrument of policy, the CSP also denotes the commitment to build a long-term and deeply engaging relationship between the two governments. Over time, it will reflect on their synergies — one of them being the reform of the United Nations Security Council, where India is seeking a permanent position. Both nations have also vowed to back each other’s campaigns and candidature at the UN. A strategic dialogue between both sides, that was held days before Shaikh Mohammad’s visit, is similarly only the beginning of a long era of proximity.
As evident from the wide-ranging joint statement issued at the end of Shaikh Mohammad’s visit, the UAE and India are now united not just in fighting terror, but also in dismantling the apparatus that contributes to the rise of hatred and radicalisation. From 26/11, Pathankot and Uri to Kandahar and Yemen, both nations have been victims of terror attacks. But more significantly, both demonstrate the savvy required to tackle terror in the digital age. A clear proof of this is in the convergence of multiple agreements — from securing cyberspace to preventing the spread of extremist ideologies and recruitment of terror networks — that were signed during Shaikh Mohammad’s visit.
Both the UAE and India have also chiselled their bilateral security pact to include the whole gamut of ways in which modern terror networks benefit, thrive and operate. This includes setting up mechanisms to detect increasingly sophisticated modes of financing terror, money laundering and proliferation of fake currencies. An agreement on cybercrime as well as a maritime security pact are also critical components of this over-arching policy. A crucial element of this is the categorical condemnation by both nations of the misuse of religion to justify terrorism or to provide a sectarian bias to any political conflict. Conversely, the UAE with its inclusive society, where multiple faiths coexist in peace, also offers the perfect narrative of how a culture of tolerance and openness can pave the way for a country’s harmonious growth.
A deeper bilateral engagement in the months and years to come will offer the UAE and India several opportunities to unlock each other’s vast commercial potential — from the Make in India and Digital India campaigns to Modi’s Smart City initiative to the $75 billion (Dh275.85 billion) National Infrastructure Investment Fund to the prospects offered by Dubai Expo 2020 to Indian companies.
With a commitment to increase bilateral trade by 60 per cent in the next five years, momentum on attracting investments is expected to pick up pace from June this year, by when the action plans from India and the UAE are scheduled to be in place. But the challenge in the road ahead is to fully realise those opportunities — to convert the potentials into reality. A simplification of tariff and regulations across India, for instance, will significantly improve the ease of doing business for small and medium enterprises as well as large investors. Similarly, increasing bilateral air traffic entitlements between India and UAE’s key cities will also strongly impact trade and investment between both the nations.
Overall, none of these strategic priorities would succeed if the bond between the people and the leadership of both countries were not compelling enough — and it’s a testimony to the long history of friendship between the UAE and India that both nations are determined to succeed in their common mission, confidently leading their people into a new era of progress and prosperity.
