Narendra Modi meets Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi; India, UAE sign five agreements

Abu Dhabi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi held wide-ranging talks with Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Saturday as the two sides signed five agreements including a historic pact awarding a consortium of Indian oil companies a 10 percent stake in offshore oil concession. Modi, who arrived in Abu Dhabi from Jordan on the second leg of his three-nation tour, was received by Mohammed Bin Zayed and other members of the Royal family at the airport. The two leaders hugged each other and exchanged pleasantries. “We warmly welcome our state guest and valued friend, the Indian Prime Minister H.E.@narendramodi to the UAE. His visit reflects our longstanding historical ties and is testament to our friendly bilateral relationship,” Mohammed Bin Zayed, also the Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, tweeted. Prime Minister Modi, who is here on his second visit to the UAE, held wide-ranging talks with and Mohammed Bin Zayed. Modi had first visited the UAE as prime minister in August 2015. [caption id=“attachment_4345391” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Narendra Modi along with the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. Twitter/@MEAIndia[/caption] After their talks, the two sides signed five agreements related to energy sector, railways, manpower and financial services. An MOU between Indian Consortium (OVL, BPRL & IOCL) and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) was signed for the acquisition of a 10 percent participating interest in the Abu Dhabi’s offshore Lower Zakum Concession, a statement issued by the Indian embassy said. The concession will be for 40 years from 2018 to 2057. Sixty percent of the participating interest will be retained by ADNOC and remaining 30 percent will be awarded to other International oil companies, the statement said. “This is the first Indian Investment in upstream oil sector of UAE, transforming the traditional buyer-seller relationship to a long-term investor relationship,” it added. To cooperate in the field of manpower, India and the UAE signed an MoU that aims to institutionalise the collaborative administration of contractual employment of Indian workers in the Gulf country. Under the MoU, both the sides will work to integrate their labour related e-platforms for ending the existing malpractices, combat trafficking and organise collaborative programs for education and awareness of contractual workers. An MoU for technical cooperation in railways was also signed between the two sides. The MoU aims at cooperation in infrastructure sector especially railways. “The MoU will facilitate development of joint projects, knowledge sharing, joint research and technology transfer. The MoU envisages formation of a Joint Working Group for institutionalising the cooperation mechanism,” the statement said. To deepen bilateral cooperation in the field of finance, an MoU between Bombay Stock Exchange and Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange was also signed. It aims at enhancing cooperation between both the countries in financial services industry. The MoU would facilitate investment in financial markets by investors from both the countries. An MoU between Government of Jammu and Kashmir and DP World was also signed to establish multi-modal logistics park and hub in Jammu comprising warehouses and specialised storage solutions.