Integrating financial systems, we are partners in progress: PM Modi

Addressing the Indian diaspora in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi said India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are working on integrating their respective financial systems, even as the bilateral strategic and technological partnerships between the two countries scaled new heights since his first visit to the Gulf nation in 2015.

The PM said the strong India-UAE community and cultural relations were a model for the world, as he spoke a few sentences in Arabic to underscore how several Arabic words were commonly used in Indian languages.

"India and the UAE are partners in progress. Our relationship is of talent, innovation, and culture," Modi said while addressing the Indian community here at the 'Ahlan Modi' (Hello Modi in Arabic) grand event.

Modi said India and UAE have inked an agreement interlinking their respective instant payment platforms that will make it easier for the Indian diaspora to remit money to their relatives in India. 

He said the Indian Institute of Technology (Delhi)’s Abu Dhabi campus started a Master’s programme last month, and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will soon open an office in Dubai.

The PM thanked UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, whom he addressed as “brother”, for allotting land and allowing the construction of a Swaminarayan temple in Abu Dhabi.

Modi said he could never forget his first visit to the UAE in 2015, the first by an Indian Prime Minister in over three decades, when the current president, who was then the crown prince, received him along with his five brothers at the airport with great warmth. “I was new to the world of diplomacy then, and I will never forget the warmth with which they hosted me as if I was a member of their family,” the PM said.

The PM said India has hosted the UAE president four times in the last ten years. He said the UAE president visited Gujarat during his last visit, where people lined the streets to receive him and thank him for his concern and sensitivity to the Indian diaspora, including during the pandemic.

He also spoke of his government’s welfare measures, the technological strides and economic growth that India has witnessed, and his “guarantee” to make India the third largest economy of the world in his third term in office.

Modi added that the world has come to trust India, which will play a key role in shaping a stable world order.