PM Modi's UAE visit to focus on energy ties amid West Asia conflict

PM Narendra Modi's UAE stopover during his Europe tour will centre on energy security, trade and investment ties amid disruptions caused by the West Asia conflict

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s talks with the President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Friday will focus on bilateral energy cooperation, and serve to promote the significant trade and investment linkages between the two countries, India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Monday evening. 

The PM’s UAE visit is part of the PM’s four-nation Europe tour from May 15 to 20, where he will also visit the Netherlands (May15-17), Sweden, Norway and Italy. The PM’s stopover in the UAE on Friday comes in the context of the disruptions in India’s sourcing of its energy supplies from the Gulf country because of the conflict in West Asia.

 

India-UAE energy ties 

The PM will meet President of the UAE, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, on Friday, May 15. The UAE President visited India on January 19, a visited lasting around four hours where the PM received him at the airport and the two travelled together to Lok Kalyan Marg.  

The UAE is India’s third largest trade partner and its seventh largest source of investment cumulatively over the past 25 years. Over 4.5 million Indian live and work in the UAE. The UAE is an important partner in India’s energy security.  

Last year, the UAE was the fourth largest source of crude oil meeting nearly 11 per cent of India’s requirement. The UAE is third largest source of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for India. Indian companies and the UAE’s Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) gas has entered into long term supply contracts for cumulative supply of 4.5 MMTPA LNG to India. This makes India the biggest buyer of UAE’s LNG. 

The UAE is also the largest source of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for India, meeting nearly 40 per cent of India’s requirement. It is the second largest destination of Petroleum, Oil and Lubricants (POL) export for Indian Refiners. India exported over $6 billion of POL to the UAE last year. 

Indian companies have invested over $1.2 billion in the upstream sector in the UAE. In 2018, a consortium of Indian companies (OVL, BPRL, IOCL) took up 10 per cent stake in Lower Zakum block in the UAE. In 2019, Indian Joint Venture Company Urja Bharat Private Limited (JV between BPRL and IOCL) took up stake in Abu Dhabi Onshore Block-1. In January 2026, BPRL confirmed an oil discovery in Abu Dhabi’s Onshore Block 1. These are the first of its kind investments in the upstream sector by the Indian companies in the West Asia region. 

The UAE has been the first country to partner with India in the Strategic Petroleum Reserves. In 2018, Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited (ISPRL) and ADNOC entered into an agreement for the UAE to store over 5 million barrel of crude oil reserves in ISPRL’s facility in Mangalore. 

India and the UAE are also expanding cooperation in renewables. An Agreement has been signed between MASDAR and Rajasthan government in October 2024 for setting up of 60 GW of renewable energy capacity. Both sides have embarked on a feasibility study for grid interconnection. 

The UAE is also been an active founding member of the Global Biofuels Alliance that was launched in September 2023 during India’s Presidency of G-20. 

PM’s European tour 

The PM last visited the Netherlands in 2017. Netherlands is one of India's largest trade destinations in Europe, with bilateral trade worth $27.8 billion (2024-25), and India's fourth largest investor with cumulative foreign direct investment (FDI) $55.6 billion.  

On May 17-18, the PM will be in Sweden. He earlier visited Sweden in 2018 for the first-ever India-Nordic Summit. His discussions with the Swedish leadership will focus on increasing bilateral trade, which reached $7.75 billion in 2025, and Swedish FDI into India reached $2.825 billion (2000 – 2025), as well as in other sectors. Modi and Swedish PM Ulf Kristersson will also address the European Round Table for Industry, a leading pan-European business leaders’ forum, along with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. 

In Norway, on May 18-19, the PM will attend the third India-Nordic Summit and bilateral engagements. It marks the first prime ministerial visit from India to Norway in 43 years. Discussions will focus on trade and investment, capitalising on the India – European Free Trade Association (EFTA) Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement. EFTA comprises Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.  

The MEA said the PM’s visit to Norway will also be an opportunity to induce momentum in bilateral trade worth around $2.73 billion (2024), and investments by Norway’s Government Pension Fund (GPFG) of close to $28 billion in the Indian capital market. 

The third India-Nordic Summit will take place in Oslo on May 19, where Modi will be joined by Norwegian PM Jonas Gahr Støre, PM of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen, PM of Finland, Petteri Orpo, PM of Iceland, Kristrún Frostadóttir; and PM of Sweden,  Kristersson for the Summit. The two previous summits were held in Stockholm in April 2018 and in Copenhagen in May 2022. The MEA said the summit will impart a more strategic dimension to India’s relationship with the Nordic countries, especially in technology and innovation, green transition and renewable energy, sustainability, blue economy defence, space and the Arctic. The visit will also provide an impetus to India’s bilateral trade, which was $19 billion in 2024, and investment ties with Nordic countries as well as help build resilient supply chains following the India-EU FTA and India-EFTA TEPA. 

In the final leg of his visit, Modi will be in Italy on May 19-20 at the invitation of his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni. Modi last visited Italy in June 2024 for the G7 Summit. India-Italy bilateral trade reached $16.77 in 2025, and cumulative FDI from Italy was $3.66 billion (April 2000-September 2025). The PM’s visit to Europe will further deepen India’s partnership with Europe across sectors, particularly trade and investment ties in light of the recently concluded India-EU FTA, the MEA said.