Dubai, Dec. 10, 2018 — India and the United Arab Emirates have signed two agreements, including one on currency swap.

This was done after the Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj held exhaustive discussions with her counterpart Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan to step up cooperation in areas like trade, security and defense.

During her December 3-4 visit, Swaraj co-chaired, along with the UAE Foreign Minister, the UAE-India joint commission meeting (JCM). This was the 12th JCM session for economic and technical cooperation.

Currency swap is a pact between two countries that allows trading in their own currency and payments to import and export trade at pre-determined exchange rate without bringing in a third benchmark currency like the US dollar.

The second agreement would enable both sides to undertake development projects in Africa.

With nearly US$50 billion bilateral trade, the two countries are one of the largest trade partners and have made robust investments bilaterally. The UAE is the sixth largest source of Indian oil imports and hosts a 3.3 million-strong Indian community.

Along with the UAE Foreign Minister, Swaraj also inaugurated the Gandhi-Zayed digital museum in Abu Dhabi to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and the birth centenary celebrations of Sheikh Zayed, the founder of modern UAE.

The Indian minister also called on Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.

Indian diaspora

Swaraj also addressed the Indian diaspora in the UAE and thanked them for making the country proud by their law-abiding and hard-working nature. The event, organized by India’s Ambassador to the UAE, Navdeep Suri, started with the rendition of Mahatma Gandhi’s favorite bhajan -Vaishnav Jan To and Raghupati Raghav Rajaram – by an Emirati singer.

She divulged that a request has been made to the UAE government to take cognizance of the exploitation of Indian women in UAE soil, who are brought to the UAE on tourist permits which are later converted to work permits leading to their exploitation.

“I have requested the UAE authorities to put an end to this, and advised the youth to follow safe and skilled migration,” she added.

Swaraj said her ministry had directed chief ministers to nab scamsters who trick people and send them to Gulf nations on false job promises. “MEA has rescued over 233,000 Indian citizens, from all around the world, who were duped,” she noted.

(Source: Times of India, Mid-day)