India’s PM Narendra Modi to visit UAE on July 15

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of the United Arab Emirates, on Saturday as the two countries look to work closely on climate change.

The UAE is India’s third-largest trading partner and the two countries have a strong partnership in the field of energy security, India’s Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra told reporters Wednesday. Modi’s visit will allow both sides “to review this important relationship.”

UAE-India talks

The UAE is India’s special invitee at the Group of 20 summit in New Delhi in September, along with Oman and Egypt. Modi will stop over on his way back from France.

The United Nations climate summit, COP28, which will bring together heads of state, diplomats, activists and business leaders from around the globe in Dubai at the end of November is expected to be the main focus of the bilateral talks, officials aware of the developments said, asking not to be named since discussions were private, as per Bloomberg.

The two leaders are also likely to discuss the Loss and Damage fund set up at last year’s summit at Sharm El-Sheikh to help vulnerable nations deal with climate disasters, the people said. The fund is yet to be operationalised.

The UAE and India are committed to expanding their renewable energy base in the future but strongly defend the use of fossil fuels to power economic growth.

The South Asian nation’s coal consumption has doubled since 2007, growing at an annual rate of 6 per cent, according to a recent report from the International Energy Agency. The UAE, on the other hand, is the world’s seventh-largest producer of petroleum, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

The two countries are keen that developed nations and blocs such as the US and EU meet funding commitments for energy transitions for the developing world.

Read: UAE-India CEPA impact: Bilateral non-oil trade reaches $50.5bn