India can play a big role in bridging relations between nations, says Jaishankar

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that the India-UAE cooperation is not just about surviving change but shaping it positively.

Delivering the keynote address at the second UAE edition of the India Global Forum (IGF) which opened in Abu Dhabi on Monday, Jaishankar outlined new areas of partnership with the UAE following the signing of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements (CEPA) earlier this year.

He highlighted new areas of India-UAE cooperation such as education, Artificial Intelligence, health, and start-ups in addition to traditional sectors like energy, trade, and investments.

“The UAE and India share intrinsic and intuitive trust leading to immense comfort in relations between both nations. Today, the UAE is India’s third largest trade partner, second largest export destination and also hosts the largest community of Indian diaspora,” he said.

“As both nations transform, we remain committed to expanding our partnership to other partners. We have a trilateral partnership with France and are also collaborating with Africa on healthcare. We have also established a unique I2U2 mechanism comprising India, Israel, UAE, and the USA. India can play a big role in bridging relations between nations,” the minister added.

In some hard-hitting comments during the Climate Finance and Technology Summit, he demanded that it was time for the developed world to “walk the talk” on climate justice.

“Combating climate change is also about delivering climate justice. We have all along seen that nations which occupy the highest carbon space are reluctant to make good on their promises on assisting developing nations to meet their climate goals.

“Developed nations need to be sincere about keeping their promises at a time when adverse climate events are becoming more and more common. As more climate emergencies happen, there is a growing concern that developed nations are reluctant to walk the talk on climate justice. Either this is an existential crisis and we put all our resources in mitigating it or it isn’t an existential crisis at all.”

During his conversation with the Indian minister, Anwar Mohammed Gargash, Diplomatic Advisor to the President of the UAE, said: “We are the first country with Net Zero results. We are looking forward to COP28 as a stage for taking action. We need to work together and work quickly, especially in assisting developing countries to meet their climate change goals”.

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