Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday met Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, as the two sides acknowledged the need to scale up the defence cooperation between India and the UAE to match the progress made in other areas such as trade and business.

Recalling his visit to the UAE last year during which he participated in the World Government Summit in Dubai as Guest of Honour, the PM remarked that the Crown Prince’s visit signified generational continuity in the strong and historic ties between India and the UAE, emphasising the enduring partnership built on mutual trust and a shared vision for the future.

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The PM discussed with Sheikh Hamdan 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.

The PM expressed his gratitude to the leadership of the UAE for ensuring the welfare of around 4.3 million Indians living in the UAE, acknowledging their vital role in the vibrant relations between the two nations.

The Crown Prince also met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. The two leaders expressed happiness on the current defence cooperation through institutional mechanisms, military exercises, exchange of training programmes, etc.

They acknowledged that defence cooperation needs to be enhanced in line with the vision and determination of the two leaders – PM Modi and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. They identified training exchanges as one of the key areas of defence cooperation, which would enable understanding of each other’s defence ecosystems and accelerate strengthening of bilateral defence ties.

The two leaders expressed satisfaction with the active Coast Guard-to-Coast Guard cooperation and committed to further deepening it by formalising the same through an MoU. They were convinced that close collaboration between the defence industries should be an integral part of the bilateral cooperation. They emphasised on increasing defence industry collaboration and discussed opportunities for enhancing partnership in defence manufacturing.

Earlier in the day, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar expressed his pleasure in welcoming Sheikh Hamdan on his first official visit to the country.

Taking to social media platform X, Mr Jaishankar wrote, “Delighted to welcome Crown Prince of Dubai and DPM & Minister of Defence of UAE HH Sheikh Hamdan Mohammed, at the start of his first official visit to India. Value his positive sentiments for our wide-ranging cooperation and vibrant ties.”