Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan held a brief discussion during a meeting in New Delhi on Monday.
In a media briefing, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said the UAE president's visit, though short, was extremely substantive. He added that they discussed restricted and delegation level talks.
"His Highness was received at the airport personally by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a special gesture that is characteristic of the extremely warm and close relationship the two leaders share," Misri said.
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The talks covered artificial intelligence, nuclear reactors, counter-terrorism, defence, energy security and sectors. The officials exchanged multiple agreements and letters of intent in the presence of the two leaders.
The two sides agreed to double bilateral trade to $200 billion in six years and bolster defence ties. They also finalised a 10-year agreement for the supply of 0.5 million metric tons of LNG by Abu Dhabi state oil firm ADNOC to India's Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd, Misri told reporters. This would make Abu Dhabi one of the largest LNG suppliers to New Delhi.
With Abu Dhabi joining the Washington-led Pax Silica project, India's discussions with UAE on AI is seen as crucial. The two nations agreed to establish a supercomputing cluster in India as well as "digital embassies" based on mutually recognised sovereignty for digital infrastructure. President Nahyan also backed India-hosted AI Impact Summit next month.
India and the UAE also discussed partnerships in nuclear technologies. These included development of large nuclear reactors as well as small modular reactors.
Both sides also condemned terrorism unequivocally and agreed to extend cooperation under the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to crack down on terror funding and money laundering.
