Foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra said the intergovernmental framework concerning cooperation on the India-Middle East Economic Corridor (IMEC) agreement signed between the Indian government and the UAE government aims to see how the IMEC operates and whether it achieves the core objectives set out by both nations.
He also said that India and the UAE signed 10 memoranda of agreement (MoUs) in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on a two-day visit to the West Asian nation and UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
“This agreement builds collaboration and also looks at specific things that the parties would do to promote cooperation in this space,” Kwatra said.
“Now, supply chain services are not just limited to one or two things, but cover all types of general cargo, bulk containers and liquid bulbs. One of the aims in this is to see how quickly the IMEC, which was launched, gets operated and benefits the core objective of stronger, deeper, more extensive regional connectivity between the parties involved,” Kwatra further added.
The IMEC initiative was launched on the sidelines of the 2023 G20 Summit in New Delhi.
Kwatra highlighted the main areas that are being covered by the agreement are related to cooperation on logistics platforms, which is a crucial element of furthering the objectives of this particular corridor.
India and UAE signed an MoU to further cooperation in the field of electricity connection and trade which aims to strengthen the partnership between both nations in the energy trade and security domains with focus on green hydrogen.
“Naturally the collaboration that deals with investment policy research, research, development, and innovation, across this entire sector of clean and green energy would also form an important segment of partnership under this MOU,” Kwatra added.
The Ministry of Investment of the UAE and India’s Ministry of Electronics and Technology (MEITY) have signed an MoU for cooperation on digital infrastructure projects.
“This is a framework agreement that focuses on investment cooperation in the field of digital infrastructures, naturally, as a corollary of that the focus is on developing capabilities, sharing technical knowledge, advice, skills, and expertise under this particular framework, government agencies as also the regulatory authorities will also look to forge partnerships under this particular digital infrastructure MOU.
“This would focus on some of the key areas of digital space that include high power computing, digital innovation, and the platforms relating to management of data,” he said.
Briefing about the bilateral investment treaty between India and the UAE, Kwatra said that the agreement will set the basis for stronger and more extensive and wide-ranging investment partnerships because it focuses not just on protecting the existing investments but also advances the objective of promoting further capital flows between both countries.
“(An) MOU (was signed) on the development of the national maritime heritage complex. This is a national maritime heritage complex at Lothal in Gujarat. The two sides will work closely and the relevant departments will develop this project in a comprehensive fashion,” he said.
The National Maritime Heritage Complex (NMHC) is an under-construction tourism complex near Lothal in Bhavnagar district of Gujarat, India which will present the maritime heritage of India. The complex will have museums, amusement parks, educational institutes, hotels and resorts.
“There is agreement on the cooperation protocol at the National Archives of India. The objective is to promote cooperation in archives management, through the exchange of expertise, historical information, to search and studies, etc,” Kwatra said.
An agreement on interlinking of the instant payment platforms – UPI (India) and AANI (UAE) and an agreement on interlinking domestic debit/credit cards – RuPay (India) with JAYWAN (UAE) have also been inked.
(with inputs from PTI)
Comments
0 comment