New Delhi [India], January 19 : Former External Affairs Minister and Chairman of Congress' Foreign Affairs Department, Salman Khurshid, on Monday hailed UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan's official visit to India, stating that the country will benefit from strengthening the relationship with Abu Dhabi.
Speaking to ANI, Salman Khurshid said that India has good economic relations with the UAE and should strengthen them further.
The Congress leader said, "Everyone comes, and we also go (to other countries), the more exchange there is, the stronger the relationships become, the country benefits from this."
"There is a strong focus on industry and trade, and the primary focus will be on economic matters. We have very good economic relations with the UAE. If we strengthen them further, we will be successful," he added.
Earlier today, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri noted that the UAE President concluded a "short, but extremely substantive" official visit to the national capital, during which he was personally received at the airport by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and held discussions with the Indian side.
Misri added that after the airport reception, the two leaders travelled together to the Prime Minister's residence, where talks were held first in a restricted format and then in an expanded format involving delegation members.
The two leaders signed five agreements, including an investment cooperation between the Government of Gujarat, India and the Ministry of Investment of the United Arab Emirates for the development of Dholera Special Investment region; a letter of intent on the Strategic Defence Partnership; and an MoU for sanitary and quality parameters to facilitate the trade, exchange, and promotion of cooperation in the food sector.
The two sides also agreed to double bilateral trade to over USD 200 billion by 2032 and to establish a supercomputing cluster in India.
This marked Sheikh Mohamed's third official visit to India since assuming office as UAE President and his fifth visit to the country over the past decade.