Abu Dhabi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi held wide-ranging talks with Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Saturday as the two sides signed five agreements including a historic pact awarding a consortium of Indian oil companies a 10 per cent stake in offshore oil concession.
Modi, who arrived in Abu Dhabi from Jordan on the second leg of his three-nation tour, was received by Mohammed Bin Zayed and other members of the Royal family at the airport. The two leaders hugged each other and exchanged pleasantries.
The Prime Minister thanked the Crown Prince for the special gesture of receiving him at the airport and said his visit will have a positive impact on India-UAE ties.
"We warmly welcome our state guest and valued friend, the Indian Prime Minister to the UAE. His visit reflects our longstanding historical ties and is testament to our friendly bilateral relationship," Mohammed Bin Zayed, also the Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, tweeted.
Modi, who is in Abu Dhabi on his second visit to the UAE, held wide-ranging talks with Mohammed Bin Zayed. The Prime Minister had visited the UAE in August, 2015.
After their talks, the two sides signed five agreements related to energy sector, railways, manpower and financial services.
An MoU between an Indian consortium comprising OVL, BPRL and IOCL and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) was signed for acquisition of a 10 per cent participating interest in Abu Dhabi's offshore Lower Zakum Concession, a statement issued by the Indian embassy said.
The concession will be for 40 years from 2018 to 2057. Sixty per cent of the participating interest will be retained by ADNOC and the remaining 30 per cent will be awarded to other international oil companies, the statement said.
"This is the first Indian Investment in upstream oil sector of UAE, transforming the traditional buyer-seller relationship to a long-term investor relationship," the statement said.
India and the UAE also signed an MoU that aims to institutionalise collaborative administration of contractual employment of Indian workers in the Gulf country.
Under the MoU, both sides will work to integrate their labour related e-platforms for ending malpractices, combat trafficking and organise collaborative programmes for education and awareness of contractual workers.
An MoU for technical cooperation in railways was also signed between the two sides. To deepen bilateral cooperation in the field of finance, an MoU between Bombay Stock Exchange and Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange was also signed.
Another MoU between Jammu and Kashmir government and DP World was also signed to set up a multi-modal logistics park and hub in Jammu comprising warehouses and specialised storage solutions.
Some buildings in Abu Dhabi were lit in the Indian tricolour as the city was decked up to welcome Modi, who also attended a state banquet hosted by the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince.
The Prime Minister will visit Wahat Al Karama, the UAE martyr's war memorial, on Sunday before travelling to Dubai where he will interact with the Indian community at an event at the Dubai Opera House and will see a ceremony of the first Hindu temple in Abu Dhabi. The ceremony will be live-streamed to the Opera House.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will then speak at the World Government Summit in Dubai, where India is a guest of honour this year. He will make inaugural the address on the theme "technology for development".
