On Republic Day invite to Abu Dhabi crown prince
We are honoured and grateful that his highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, has received invitation from the Government of India to be the chief guest on Republic Day of India on 26 January 2017. The bilateral relationship between UAE and India has taken a different track. You mentioned the visit of Honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi in August 2015, followed by the visit of his Highness the Crown Prince in February 2016. Those two visits put our relations on a different track, more of a strategic track. The relationship at various traditional levels has always existed but since these visits we have shifted to more of a strategic relationship. I think this relationship will be fruitful and beneficial to both UAE and India.
Strategic cooperation pact between India and UAE
So far, we have 16 agreements signed between the two countries. The main pillars of the agreements like avoidance of double taxation, protection of investment, aviation, cyber security, currency swap… These agreements will be crowned by the major agreement that will be signed on 25 January 2017 and that is the strategic agreement between the two countries.
There will be exchange of information, security, defence, counter terrorism, cooperation in the fields of renewable energy, cooperation in the field of aero space, cooperation in the field of research and development and the IT industry. The prospects are huge and immense. The governments are working to facilitate interaction between our private sectors, between the institutions. I really think since the visit of our Crown Prince, lots of things have happened. Things have taken place that were even beyond my imagination at certain times. The chemistry between our leaders had triggered this great cooperation.
On trade ties
If we look at the bilateral trade figures between UAE and India 30 years ago, the total trade between UAE and India was 128 million USD. In 2016, the figures are 50 billion USD. India is the number one trading partner for the United Arab Emirates. We are the third largest trading partner for India after USA and China.
We have a huge Indian community living in the Arab Emirates, around 2.8 million people. They have become a part of our progress and a part of where we have reached. We really appreciate that. As I mentioned that the traditional relationship has always been there.
Oil and gas is one of the main sectors that top the list. There are other sectors that we are working closely with India on, for example, air space technology, renewable energy. And I hope by the involvement of those sectors, the figures will rise and add value to the existing relationship that we have with India.
Kandahar attack on UAE Diplomats
I offer my condolences to the family members of those officials from UAE who passed away in this horrible attack. We condemn these terrorist acts and we work very closely with many different countries all over the world including India. I don’t think it has any link to the Crown Prince’s visit. Our relationship… nobody dictates on us what we do and what we don’t. Our relationship has been great with India and we will not change our minds and decisions. That attack on our diplomats, who were involved in humanitarian work in the city of Kandahar, was a cowardly act by some group of people.
We are still looking and investigating. We are working very closely with the Afghan authorities to find out who is behind this act of terrorism.
So far, we have 16 agreements signed between the two countries. The main pillars of the agreements are avoidance of double taxation, protection of investment, aviation, cyber security and currency swap.
On Dawood Ibrahim operatives in UAE
We work very closely with India regardless of the names of those people who have been classified as terrorists, classified as people springing acts of terror. We disseminate information to the Indian authorities. We exchange information with the Indian authorities; we have signed an agreement in reference to that. There have been many meetings between the NSAs of India and UAE and there has been a lot of cooperation in trying to stop the acts of terrorism, to stop those individuals who support fanatics and groups that have been pronounced by the international community as illegal groups. We try and we work very hard with the Indian authorities to stop such actions.
UAE assures India of cooperation on Dawood issue
As I mentioned, regardless of the names, there is a legal and judicial process and there are agreements signed between UAE and India on exchange of criminals and so on and so forth. So regardless of the name, we work very closely with India and we collaborate. We are against acts of terrorism.
You mentioned ISIS… I refuse to call them ISIS because it’s a short term for Islamic State but there is nothing Islamic about them. They are just using the religion and the word Islam to reach their own evil goals. Whether it’s Daesh or other international terror organisations, we fight them and we collaborate with all the authorities in India or any other country to stop those groups and to minimise them and to stop their growth.
If you look at the composition of Daesh, there is a limited percentage of people from the Arab world or Muslims. The majority are non-Arab and non-Muslim. This is something that the international community has become aware of. That’s why you see a lot action has been taken against this Daesh group and, of course, led by the international coalition and the US.
On ISIS/Daesh spreading in the region
There are people from various parts of the world. Daesh recruits from all over the world due to certain situations, whether personal, individual, economic… We need to look at their goals and that are evil. We need to fight evil otherwise the whole world will suffer; innocent people would suffer.
On Saudi-led coalition with EX-Pak Army Chief as commander
Well this is a new piece of information. I know that the coalition that has been formed by US or the one that was formed by the Arab world… the goal is the same. The goal is to fight the evil thinking… the ones who have gone off track. Therefore, regardless of who leads, we need to look at the main goal.
ON OIC paying heed to India’s concerns despite Pak influence
Terrorism and acts of terrorism are discussed and talked on many different levels, bilateral, multilateral, UN and regional umbrellas. We need to coordinate our efforts and we do coordinate our efforts with India.
No good or bad terrorists
Terrorism is terrorism. There is no good or bad terrorism. That’s why the UAE is working very closely with many countries including India in reaching the final definition of terrorism. But at the base, terrorism is terrorism. We need to coordinate our efforts; we need to verify certain acts. We are in full agreement in India’s efforts to fight terrorism, to counter attack terrorism. We do the same. We are working closely to reach the common goal of humanity to have a peaceful world instead of accommodating those groups and use them sometimes as an element of proxy war.