India and UAE are engaged in delicate negotiations to organise a visit by PM Narendra Modi to Abu Dhabi on April 20 to inaugurate the Gulf Nation’s first Hindu temple in the backdrop of local sentiments ahead of Ramadan.
The two sides are currently in talks to organise a successful visit by the PM. The UAE government has appraised Delhi about the local sentiments that could be associated with the event ahead of Ramadan, ET has learnt.
If he visits Abu Dhabi on April 20 this would be Modi’s last trip abroad as PM in his current term.
Modi had laid the foundation stone of the temple during his last visit to Abu Dhabi in February 2018. He had witnessed the ground breaking ceremony (‘shila pujan’) for the temple during that visit and attended the World Government Summit in Dubai.
The PM had laid the foundation stone for the Swaminarayan temple of the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar PurushottamSwaminarayan Sanstha through videoconferencing from the Dubai Opera House, where he addressed the members of the Indian community.
The temple has been built on 55,000 sq m donated by Abu Dhabi crown prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The structure has been hand-carved by Indian artisans and assembled in the UAE. The temple is a replica of the one in Delhi and another under construction in New Jersey, US.
India-UAE ties have been elevated to a new level ever since Modi visited Abu Dhabi in 2015. From inviting India for the first time ever as a guest of honour in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) despite a boycott by Pakistan, to promising to invest $75 billion to boost infrastructure and to opening up the defence and space sector partnership, ties have come a long way in the past three years. Investments have been made into National Infrastructure Investment Fund from Abu Dhabi’s sovereign fund.
The UAE has also contributed in building strategic oil reserves besides investing jointly with Saudi Arabia in a refinery project in Maharashtra. The Abu Dhabi crown prince, who was the Republic Day chief guest in 2017, also played a key role in defusing the recent India-Pakistan tensions.
The UAE, on its part, is now looking to increase quota for its airlines from various Indian states, including Kerala.
Source:ET
Image Courtesy: India International
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