India, UAE sign 14 pacts, but none on the $75-bn infra fund

India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Wednesday signed 14 pacts to strengthen cooperation across several sectors, including areas such as defence, security, trade and energy.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan held one-on-one and delegation level talks, subsequent to which the agreements were signed. The crown prince is the chief guest at Thursday’s Republic Day parade.

But, the dampener was the failure on the two sides to agree on a memorandum of understanding to facilitate investments in infrastructure projects in India from the $75 billion UAE-India infrastructure investment fund.

After the meeting, the PM said stronger India-UAE relations can “help stabilise the region and the economic partnership can be a source of regional and global prosperity.” Modi said the crown prince and he exchanged views on developments in West Asia and the Gulf, where both countries have a shared interest in peace and stability, and on their shared concern on growing threat from radicalism and terrorism and their cooperation in this space. “Moving forward, our cooperation stands poised for a major take off,” the PM said.

On the failure to sign the agreement, officials said talks were in advanced stages to identify projects in which investments can be made.

This was in contrast to claims by Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) officials on Tuesday. The officials had said they were hopeful that agreement between UAE’s investment fund and India’s National Infrastructure Investment Fund (NIIF) would be inked, and put in place a framework as to how the fund will be administered and which all sectors it can be invested in. 

On Monday, Ahmed Al Banna, UAE’s ambassador to New Delhi, told Business Standard that UAE was ready but the ball was in India's court. The UAE has indicated that New Delhi has been slow in putting in place the necessary administrative structure for managing the fund. 

The two sides had announced the fund during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the Emirates in August 2015. The Modi government had touted it as one of its key successes in 

bringing foreign investments into India. But 18-months later, the government is facing embarrassment.