HIGHLIGHTS OF PM MODI’S GULF AND WEST ASIA OUTREACH: PALESTINE, UAE AND OMAN

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as a part of Gulf and West Asia outreach visited Palestine, UAE and Oman from 9 February to 12 February 2018. The visit was planned to cover Strategic, Economic, Energy, Defence, Security and Maritime security agenda.

HIGHLIGHTS OF PALESTINE VISIT (10 February 2018)

The visit to Palestine was planned to show de-hyphenation with Israel as the visit to Ramallah transiting through Jordan.

1. In a historic visit, PM Modi became the first Prime Minister to visit Palestine.
2. In a special recognition of the Prime Minister’s contribution to relations between India and Palestine, President Abbas conferred on him the highest honour for a foreign dignitary “Grand Collar of the State of Palestine”.
3. Emphasized old and historical relations between India and Palestine and support to Palestinian cause to become a sovereign and independent country in a peaceful atmosphere.
4. Paid tributes at the tomb of Abu Omar, a top leader of his time and a distinguished friend of India.
5. India contributes in Palestine Nation Building efforts and has cooperation in the areas of training, technology, infrastructure development, project assistance and budgetary support.
6. As a part of new initiative, India started a “Technology Park” project in Ramallah which is currently under construction and after its creation,  will work as a centre to enhance employment skills and services.
7. India is collaborating to set up an “Institute of Diplomacy” in Ramallah. This institute will emerge as a world-class training institute for the young diplomats of Palestine.
8. India collaborates in capacity building involving  mutual training for long and short-term courses. Training and scholarship slots for Palestine in leading Indian educational institutions of different sectors such as finance, management, rural development and information technology are extended recently. 
9. At the bilateral level, India agreed to make relations deeper through the Ministerial level Joint Commission Meeting.
10.  In 2017, for the first time, there was an exchange between the youth delegations of India and Palestine. Since youth are the future and inheritors of friendship, India announced an exchange of young persons from 50 to 100 this year.
11. Six MOU’s were signed between India and Palestine valued more than $ 40 million: Setting up of super speciality hospital at Beit Sahour in Bethelhem, setting  up of new National Printing Press at Ramallah, construction of India Palestine centre for Empowering Women “Turathi”, construction of school in Tamoon village and Muthalth Al Shuhada.

 HIGHLIGHTS OF UAE VISIT (10-11 February)

Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Indo-UAE relations have reached an extraordinary level of friendship and bonhomie. India and UAE have exchanged four high level visits. These included two by the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan in February 2016 and January 2017, and two by Prime Minister Modi in August 2015 and February 2018. Additionally, regular meetings between ministers and officials have been held in New Delhi and Abu Dhabi to discuss issues of mutual interest, especially investments in energy sector, increasing defense and security ties and strengthening counter-terror cooperation.

In January 2017, during the visit of Crown Prince al-Nahyan to New Delhi as chief guest for Republic Day celebrations, India and the UAE signed a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) agreement to give a new impetus to the strong bilateral relations. The focus areas underlined in the CSP were economy with emphasis on two-way flow of investments, counter-terror cooperation and defense ties. Since then, the two sides have been working to realize the goals of forging a strong strategic partnership through regular exchange of visits, improve bilateral trade and investments, greater understanding of security concerns and vulnerabilities and readiness to harness on the momentum created due to greater political understanding.

UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan visited India 24-30 June 2018. The key highlight of his visit was the signing of the trilateral agreement between Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), Saudi Arabia’s national oil company Aramco and the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas for the joint development of the Ratnagiri Refineries and Petrochemical Limited (RRPCL) in Maharashtra with an estimated cost of US $44 billion. The RRPCL will be one of the world’s largest oil refineries and expected to have a capacity of 60 million metric tons per annum. As per the agreement, the IOL, Aramco and ADNOC will have 25 percent stake each in the RRPCL while HPCL and BPCL will have 12.5 per cent stake each.

Key Highlights:

1. Prime Minister Modi delivered his key note address on the theme- "Technology for Development”- at the sixth World Government Summit in Dubai, where India was invited as the Guest of Honour. Prime Minister Modi met with a select group of senior GCC CEOs and Business Leaders.
2. Both leaders reviewed the progress made in implementing the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership agreement signed during the last visit of Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed to India in January 2017. Both leaders reviewed bilateral engagement in the past two years across a whole range of spheres, including Combating Extremism and Counter Terrorism, Security, Defence and Space Cooperation, Trade, Investment and Civil Aviation, Energy and Climate Change, People and Skill Development, Culture, Education and Tourism, International and Regional Cooperation.
3. Four MOU’s were signed and exchanged related to Railway, Manpower, Financial Services and Energy Sector. In the energy sector, MOU signed between ONGC led consortium and ADNOC for acquisition of 10% participating interest in the ADMA-OPCO field in lower Zakum.
4. Review of the progress being made in early implementation of the agreement on Oil Storage and Management between Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and the Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited signed in January 2017 and underscored that crude oil supply from UAE for the Mangalore cavern would be a significant transformational step in building a strategic partnership in the energy sector.
5. To conduct first bilateral Naval Exercise in 2018 as per decision taken during the latest round of Joint Defence Cooperation Committee JDCC held in New Delhi in December 2017.
6. The UAE side renewed its interest in the coastal surveillance systems and patrol vessels developed by India. India to supply Naval Offshore Patrol Vessels to UAE.
7. Both leaders noted the excellent trade and economic ties between the two countries, which amounted to about USD 53 billion in 2016-17. The two sides agreed to further strengthen these ties through diversifying non-oil trade.
8. Both leaders welcomed launch of Nayif-1 Nano satellite of UAE by Indian Space Research Organisation in February, 2017. Former ISRO Chairman joined the Advisory Board of the UAE Space Agency.
9. Both leaders reviewed the progress in realizing the USD 75 billion target for UAE investments in India committed towards infrastructure development. Prime Minister Modi welcomed Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA’s) participation in India’s National Infrastructure Investment Fund (NIIF) as an anchor investor and welcomed DP World's agreement with NIIF to create a joint investment platform for ports, terminals, transportation and logistics businesses in India. He also welcomed UAE’s continued interest in investing in infrastructure development in India, especially in priority areas such as renewable energy, power generation and transmission, defence production, real estate, industrial corridors and parks, railways, roads, ports, shipping, logistics and food processing among others.

HIGHLIGHTS OF OMAN VISIT ( 11-12 February 2018)

His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, Sultan of Oman and the Indian Prime Minister exchanged views on bilateral, regional and global issues of common interest. The two sides stressed that India and Oman, as maritime neighbours across the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea, have enjoyed historically close bilateral ties, involving vibrant maritime trade and cultural exchanges, and have expanded into strategic partnership based on trust and mutual respect. The two sides covered discussions on 1) Regional Security and Combatting Terrorism 2) Security, Defence and Space Cooperation 3) Trade & Investment  4) Energy 5) Space & IT  6) Cultural, Educational & Tourism Exchanges  7) Health & Food Security  8) Consular Matters & Indian Community 8) UN reforms.

List of Agreements/MOU’s were signed during PM Modi’s visit to Oman

• Agreement on Legal and Judicial Cooperation in Civil and Commercial matter
• Agreement on mutual visa exemption for holders of diplomatic, Special, service and official passports.
• MoU on Cooperation in the field of health.
• MoU on Cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space.
• MoU on Cooperation between Foreign Service Institute, Ministry of External Affairs, India and Oman Diplomatic Institute.
• MoU on Academic and Scholarly cooperation sectors between National Defence College Sultanate of Oman and the Institute for Defence Studies and the Analyses.
• MoU in the field of Tourism cooperation between India and Oman.
• Annexure to the MoU on Military Cooperation.

 KEY HIGHLIGHTS:

1. The two sides expressed satisfaction over the current state of bilateral relations, especially the robust security and defence cooperation, and agreed to further expand their cooperation to new areas of mutual interest, including inter-alia, space, cyber security, energy security, renewable energy and food security etc., with a view to take the strategic partnership to a higher level.
2. The two sides exchanged views on regional and international issues of common interest, including the security situation in West Asia, Middle East and South Asia. The fruitful and productive discussions enabled the two sides to better understand and appreciate each other’s concerns and perspectives.
3. The two sides underlined the importance of coordinated efforts to disrupt terrorist networks, their financing and movement, in accordance with the relevant principles and purposes of the UN Charter and international laws. In this regard, the two sides called for early conclusion of negotiations on the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism in the United Nations.
4. The two sides agreed to enhance cooperation in the fields of law enforcement, anti-money laundering and prevention of smuggling of currency, drug trafficking, human trafficking, illegal migration and other transnational organized crimes.
5. The two sides noted that the MOU on Military Cooperation signed in 2005 and renewed in 2016 has provided the general framework to strengthen bilateral defence ties. They further noted that the MoUs on cooperation in maritime security and between Coast Guards of the two countries signed in May 2016 have provided a firm foundation for deepening institutional interactions.
6. The two sides agreed to provide further impetus to the robust defence relations, including through regular holding of joint exercises by the three defence forces, training of navy, air and army officials, as also cooperation in the area of coastal defence and through participation in defence exhibitions etc.
7. The Omani side acknowledged the opportunities offered under the 'Make in India' initiative for joint production of defence equipment in India and also for the procurement of defence material from India. The two sides agreed to explore further opportunities in these areas of common interest.
8. The two sides agreed to enhance cooperation to strengthen maritime security in the Gulf and the Indian Ocean regions. They further agreed to promote bilateral collaboration for humanitarian assistance and evacuation in natural disasters and conflict situations.
9. The Indian Prime Minister welcomed the invitation to Indian companies to invest in various sectors in the special economic zones of Oman, including SEZs in Duqm, Sohar and Salalah. The Indian Prime Minister offered India’s partnership and cooperation in areas of priority, such as minerals and mining, manufacturing, logistics, infrastructure, tourism, agriculture and fisheries, IT and IT enabled-services, skills development, innovation etc.
10. The Indian Prime Minister apprised His Majesty the various key initiatives of the Government, including "Start Up India”, "Make in India”, "Smart City”, "Digital India” and "Clean India”, highlighting their strong potential to provide Indian economy a positive thrust for sustained growth. The Indian Prime Minister highlighted the major initiatives taken by his Government, including for improving the ease of doing business and invited Omani Sovereign Wealth Funds, including State General Reserve Fund, and private businesses to invest in India. The two sides expressed their commitment to encourage mutual investments and agreed that India-Oman Joint Investment Fund could be an important mechanism to raise funds for two-way investments.
11. The Indian Prime Minister reiterated India's invitation to Oman to participate in building the strategic oil reserves in India.