India, UAE agree to elevate defence ties

India and the UAE on Tuesday agreed to enhance their military ties, open a hospital in Dubai, start IIM-Ahmedabad’s MBA programme in Dubai and inked an MoU to start ship repair facilities at Kochi in Kerala and Vadinar in Gujarat. The two sides also decided to elevate the existing comprehensive strategic partnership.

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The Dubai Crown Prince, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and held separate meetings with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

The Ministry of External Affairs said the IIM-Ahmedabad campus in Dubai would commence its MBA programme in September. An overseas campus of the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade would come up at the India Pavilion in Expo City Dubai, it said.

The construction work would soon commence on the Bharat Mart complex while Dubai would grant land for a 100-bed UAE-India friendship hospital, the MEA said. The initiatives would benefit the 4.3 million-strong Indian diaspora living in the UAE and the around 9 million Indian diaspora in the Gulf region.

The MEA said with these initiatives, the bilateral trade was expected to cross $97 billion. The Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL) and Drydocks World (DDW), a DP World Company, signed the MoU to enable development of ship repair clusters at Kochi and Vadinar.

PM Modi wrote on X that Dubai had played a key role in advancing the India-UAE comprehensive strategic partnership. “The PM remarked that this visit signified generational continuity in strong and historic ties between India and the UAE, emphasising the enduring partnership built on mutual trust and a shared vision for the future,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.

MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “Dubai has a key role to play in strengthening the India-UAE ties across defence, trade, technology, space and connectivity.”

Following a meeting with the Crown Prince, Rajnath said he was “eager to work closely on defence cooperation, co-production and co-development projects and innovation technology”. The two leaders identified training and collaboration between the defence industries as integral part of the bilateral cooperation, the MoD said.

The Crown Prince, who is also the UAE Deputy Prime Minister and the Defence Minister, is on his first official visit to India. He is also accompanied by several key ministers, senior-level government officials and a prominent delegation of business leaders, the MEA said. On Wednesday, he is scheduled to visit Mumbai where he will participate in a business roundtable involving top Indian and UAE business leaders.