The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi was received at the airport by Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal

New Delhi:

Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan arrived in New Delhi on Sunday at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his first official visit to India.

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal received the visiting dignitary at the airport and gave him a ceremonial welcome.

This is Zayed Al Nahyan’s first visit to India as Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. He is accompanied by several ministers from the UAE government and a business delegation.

The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 9 and hold talks on a wide range of topics of bilateral cooperation.

He will also call on President Droupadi Murmu and visit Rajghat to pay tribute to Mahatma Gandhi.

On September 10, the visiting Crown Prince will visit Mumbai to participate in a business forum, which will be attended by business leaders from both countries.

“India and the UAE have historically shared close and friendly ties. Over the past few years, the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between India and the UAE has deepened in a wide range of areas including politics, trade, investment, connectivity, energy, technology, education and culture. The Crown Prince’s visit will further strengthen the strong bilateral relations between India and the UAE and open up opportunities for partnership in new and emerging areas,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had said earlier this week.

In January, UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan visited India and explored ways to build on the strategic partnership between the two countries during his talks with Prime Minister Modi. He also attended the 10th edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit.

In July 2023, Prime Minister Modi visited the UAE. This was his fifth visit to the country since 2015, when he became the first Indian Prime Minister to visit the UAE in 34 years.

The India-UAE relationship was formally elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership during Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s visit to India in 2017.

According to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), trade between India and the UAE rose to USD 85 billion in 2022, making the UAE India’s third-largest trading partner for the year 2022-23 and India’s second-largest export destination. India is the UAE’s second-largest trading partner.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published via a syndicated feed.)