UAE to set to open more consular offices in India 

UAE to set to open more consular offices in India 

Context

Bilateral engagement b/w India & UAE receives a new fillip

What has happened?

Expansion of UAE’s consular access: Boosting bilateral engagement with India, the United Arab Emirates will open several new consular centers in India and invest $75 billion of its sovereign wealth fund in the country

PM’s visit

It should be noted that Indian PM will visit UAE in February 2018 on a two day tour

• His maiden visit to Abu Dhabi in August 2015 was the first visit of an Indian Prime Minister in more than three decades

Together against terror

UAE said that it denounces extremism, terrorism, and works closely with other countries to counter-attack organisations and individuals that have been listed or proscribed

Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA)

UAE also said that it has put in place a mechanism to oversee investment of $75 billion of its sovereign wealth fund (ADIA) into the Indian economy over the next decade

• Fund will be utilised for infrastructure projects in India and$ 1 billion has already been invested

Stability of GCC within India’s interest

UAE and India have held two rounds of strategic dialogue. Significantly, terrorism is also a criterion on which the country has been trying to corner neighbour Qatar, which is facing isolation within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) which began its summit meeting in Kuwait on Tuesday. GCC, host of more than seven million Indian workers and professionals, is a key source of foreign remittances to India, and stability of the region is in India’s interest

What is GCC?

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is a regional political organisation comprising the energy rich Gulf monarchies – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates

When and why was it founded?

• Since its establishment in Abu Dhabi in 1981, the GCC has promised to achieve ever closer union between the energy rich Gulf countries
• Western analysts originally attributed its foundation to security concerns, which have always plagued the Gulf monarchies, but the founding charter focused more on issues of social and cultural cohesion, environmental and scientific coordination and economic cooperation

Division within GCC

UAE and Saudi Arabia have formed a separate security alliance away from GCC on Tuesday, hinting at an emerging division within the GCC

• The Emirati Foreign Ministry announcement, just hours ahead of a GCC meeting in Kuwait, said the new “joint cooperation committee” was approved by the UAE’s ruler and president, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nayhan