India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) held on Tuesday extensive talks on energy, trade, defense and food security, as well as exchanging views on regional and global issues. India Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement that External Minister S. Jaishankar met his UAE counterpart Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan Tuesday in New Delhi. They reviewed the continuous progress in bilateral relations across different domains since the 14th Joint Commission Meeting held in September 2022. “They appreciated the progress in bilateral relationships, especially in trade, investment, consular matters, education and food security,” the statement said. The two ministers discussed ways of strengthening the historic relations between the two countries, under the framework of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Apart from this, prospects for boosting trade and economic bilateral relations were also discussed. The discussions came in view of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which was signed between the two countries in 2022. In the last eight years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has visited UAE nearly four times. Modi last visited UAE on June 28, 2022 during which he met Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. In fact, the foreign ministers of both countries have met four times in just a span of three months. Also, UAE has been invited to attend the G-20 Summit as a special invitee. This was one of the first announcements being made by India, preparatory to its assumption of the G20 Presidency on Dec. 1, this year. Notably, both countries are discussing trade in INR and Dirhams. India and UAE are also discussing making use of UPI as a payment platform for remittances from the 3.5 million strong Indian community in the UAE. Under the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, which came into effect between the two countries on May 1, 2022, trade has shown appreciable growth, both ministers said. UAE is India’s third largest trading partner after USA and China. “India’s exports to UAE between April-September 2022 were about $16 billion, which was an increase of 24% year-on-year, while India’s imports increased 38% to reach$28.4 billion in the same period, the statement said.Cooperation in energy, healthcare, defense, space, climate change, skills, FinTech and startups also came up for discussion during the meeting. “Both ministers also exchanged views on the global situation and various regional hotspots, as well as cooperation between the two countries in UN Security Council,” the statement added. — Agencies