Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the UAE today and tomorrow has once again brought into focus India’s changing role in the Middle East, where it has significant stakes that are rising by the day.
This will be the first visit by an Indian prime minister since Indira Gandhi in 1981. Manmohan Singh was supposed to come here in March 2013, but the visit was cancelled at the last minute.
India’s policy towards the Middle East has often been viewed through the prism of Indian–Iranian relations. The international community, and the West in particular, has been obsessed with New Delhi’s ties to Tehran, while missing its much more substantive simultaneous engagement with Gulf Arab states and Israel.
India’s engagement with the UAE and other Arab countries has gained momentum in the past few years, even as Iran continued to hog the limelight.
India wants to secure energy supplies and consolidate economic and trade relations with the Gulf states, while the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have adopted a “look east” policy which has allowed them to carve out a much more substantive relationship with India than in the past.
The economic dimension of India’s Gulf policy has become more pronounced in recent years. As a group, the GCC is India’s second-largest trading partner – the largest single origin of imports into India and the second largest destination for exports from India.
The UAE on its own was India’s third-largest trading partner in 2014-15, after the trade worth $60 billion (Dh220bn). The GCC countries remain a major destination for Indian investment, and India is making a concerted attempt to encourage GCC investment in India. India hopes that major GCC states such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Oman will participate in its planned infrastructure expansion.
The Gulf countries, meanwhile, are interested in human resources from India to help develop sectors as varied as information technology, construction, transport and services.
Energy is clearly the driving force in Gulf-Indian relations. The GCC countries supply 45 per cent of India’s petroleum; the Saudis are responsible for a quarter of those supplies, and Kuwait, Oman and the UAE are other major suppliers. Qatar remains India’s exclusive supplier of natural gas, providing 5 million tonnes each year.
The Iranian government’s decision to renege on some oil supply commitments, which follows India’s decision to vote against Tehran at the International Atomic Energy Agency, has also spurred New Delhi to diversify suppliers.
India’s trade and energy security is inextricably linked to the security of the Straits of Hormuz and Bab El Mandeb. With this in mind, the Indian navy regularly visits Gulf ports and conducts training exercises with several countries in this region.
Indian warships have also been deployed in the Gulf of Aden to carry out antipiracy patrols on the route usually followed by commercial vessels between Salalah in Oman and Aden in Yemen. The Gulf of Aden is a strategic choke point in the Indian Ocean and provides access to the Suez Canal, through which a sizeable portion of India’s trade flows.
Indians are the largest expatriate community in the GCC, numbering about 7 million. There are an estimated 2.6 million Indians in the UAE, or about 30 per cent of the total population, and India receives remittances worth tens of billions of dollars annually from its Gulf expatriates.
These remittances have contributed significantly to India’s economic resurgence. Due to concerns in recent years about the living and working conditions of Indian workers in some host countries, Dehli is pursuing manpower and labour agreements with several GCC member countries.
Mr Modi’s outreach to expatriates at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium tomorrow is certain to be the highlight of his visit.
Mr Modi’s visit underscores India’s continuing interest in this region. In common with the UAE, India wants a stable balance of power to emerge.
Harsh V Pant is a professor of international relations at King’s College London
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Other workplace saving schemes
- The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
- Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
- National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
- In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
- Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203S%20Money%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202018%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20London%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ivan%20Zhiznevsky%2C%20Eugene%20Dugaev%20and%20Andrei%20Dikouchine%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20FinTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%245.6%20million%20raised%20in%20total%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Other simple ideas for sushi rice dishes
Cheat’s nigiri
This is easier to make than sushi rolls. With damp hands, form the cooled rice into small tablet shapes. Place slices of fresh, raw salmon, mackerel or trout (or smoked salmon) lightly touched with wasabi, then press, wasabi side-down, onto the rice. Serve with soy sauce and pickled ginger.
Easy omurice
This fusion dish combines Asian fried rice with a western omelette. To make, fry cooked and cooled sushi rice with chopped vegetables such as carrot and onion and lashings of sweet-tangy ketchup, then wrap in a soft egg omelette.
Deconstructed sushi salad platter
This makes a great, fuss-free sharing meal. Arrange sushi rice on a platter or board, then fill the space with all your favourite sushi ingredients (edamame beans, cooked prawns or tuna, tempura veggies, pickled ginger and chilli tofu), with a dressing or dipping sauce on the side.
If you go...
Fly from Dubai or Abu Dhabi to Chiang Mai in Thailand, via Bangkok, before taking a five-hour bus ride across the Laos border to Huay Xai. The land border crossing at Huay Xai is a well-trodden route, meaning entry is swift, though travellers should be aware of visa requirements for both countries.
Flights from Dubai start at Dh4,000 return with Emirates, while Etihad flights from Abu Dhabi start at Dh2,000. Local buses can be booked in Chiang Mai from around Dh50
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Name: HyperSpace
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Sector: Entertainment
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What is dialysis?
Dialysis is a way of cleaning your blood when your kidneys fail and can no longer do the job.
It gets rid of your body's wastes, extra salt and water, and helps to control your blood pressure. The main cause of kidney failure is diabetes and hypertension.
There are two kinds of dialysis — haemodialysis and peritoneal.
In haemodialysis, blood is pumped out of your body to an artificial kidney machine that filter your blood and returns it to your body by tubes.
In peritoneal dialysis, the inside lining of your own belly acts as a natural filter. Wastes are taken out by means of a cleansing fluid which is washed in and out of your belly in cycles.
It isn’t an option for everyone but if eligible, can be done at home by the patient or caregiver. This, as opposed to home haemodialysis, is covered by insurance in the UAE.
What is a Ponzi scheme?
A fraudulent investment operation where the scammer provides fake reports and generates returns for old investors through money paid by new investors, rather than through ligitimate business activities.
