Prime Minister Modi’s 2015 UAE visit marked the beginning of a new Comprehensive and Strategic Partnership between the two countries
Describing the UAE as one of India’s foremost partners and well-wishers, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that India-UAE relations are in an era of new milestones, with rising trade and investment levels, growing fintech linkages, and strong collaboration in areas like infrastructure, digital technology, and defence.

Speaking at the inauguration of the Symbiosis Campus in Dubai on Thursday (November 14, 2024), EAM Jaishankar lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the UAE in 2015 as historic, pointing out that this was the first by an Indian Prime Minister in this century. Prime Minister Modi’s visit marked the beginning of a new Comprehensive and Strategic Partnership between the two countries.

EAM Jaishankar also highlighted the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which was negotiated in record time. 

“The trade and investment levels between our countries are at new levels and increasing with each passing year. Fintech linkages like RuPay-Jaywan or UPI-AANE are also the firsts in their domain. In fact, the activities and collaborations that we are constantly expanding – be it in renewable energy, infrastructure, digital technology, defence or security – are all pathbreaking in their own way,” he stated. 

“I would like all of you to be aware that this campus and your education is part of a larger trend that has seen India and the UAE come close in an unprecedented way,” EAM Jaishankar remarked. 

EAM Jaishankar emphasised that today, India needs to prepare for the global workplace. Equally, it has to be ready for the era of AI, chips, electric mobility, clean and green technologies, renewable energy, space and drones. It also has to manage the growth of these possibilities, by making them employment-centric and market viable, he added. “While doing so, it has to continuously communicate – amongst ourselves and to the world – the benefits of our contemporary direction to society,” he explained.

EAM Jaishankar expressed the hope that the new campus, which will offer courses in Management, Technology and Media & Communications, would foster greater collaboration and research linkages between scholars of India and UAE, for mutual prosperity and global good. 

EAM Jaishankar, who arrived in Dubai earlier in the day, had also visited the UAE in June this year.

“Today’s ceremony is not just an inauguration of a new campus; it is a celebration of the growing educational cooperation between our two countries,” EAM Jaishankar remarked. He noted that the Indian curriculum and learning was being imparted through more than 100 International Indian Schools in UAE benefitting more than 300,000 students. India’s Central Board of Secondary Education, National Institute of Open Studies and Institute of Chartered Accountants are also providing institutional and student certifications in UAE, he added.

Earlier this year, the Abu Dhabi campus of IIT Delhi became operational with the launch of the first Master of Technology (MTech) program in Energy Transition and Sustainability in January 2024.

In November 2023, India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen educational cooperation. The MoU aims to strengthen the existing cooperation in the field of educational institutions in both countries, by facilitating student and faculty mobility, joint research programmes, designing courses, organising and participation in conferences, lectures, symposia, courses, scientific and educational exhibitions in areas of mutual interest held in both countries.