Two days ago, UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan made a two-hour visit to India, a trip that garnered attention due to its timing and its hurried nature. Sheikh Mohamed arrived at Palam air base and was received by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with a number of senior officials, signifying the value India attaches to its partnership with the UAE and the personal rapport both leaders enjoy. The Prime Minister also shared photographs of the meeting, including images of the two leaders embracing and travelling together in the same car from the airport.
India signed a $3 billion deal to buy liquefied natural gas from the UAE, making it the Arab nation’s top customer. Both leaders also held talks to strengthen trade and defence ties, which included India and the UAE pledging to double bilateral trade to $200 billion in six years and form a strategic defence partnership.
As per this defence pact, the two sides will work to expand defence cooperation across a number of areas, including defence industrial collaboration and innovation and training, special operations, and counter terrorism.
It is this pact that has stoked speculation that India was aligning strategically with the UAE to counter the Pakistan-Saudi Defence Pact. Especially since this comes as relations between former allies Saudi Arabia and the UAE have frayed substantially, with the two countries backing opposing forces in the escalating civil war in Yemen.
It is also noteworthy that the Pakistani military’s role and strategic footprint in West Asia is growing rapidly, especially after Islamabad and Riyadh signed a mutual defence cooperation agreement in September 2025. Now, Turkiye is expected to join them to form what they call an “Islamic NATO’.
Interestingly, Ankara is of the view that India, the UAE, and Israel are coming together with Greece and Cyprus in a counter-move to this “Islamic NATO”.
This has prompted many to believe the proposed India-UAE Strategic Defence Partnership is aimed at enhancing India’s strategic presence in West Asia, a region key to its economic and energy security.
But there are important questions to be answered. Will India take a stance against Saudi Arabia if things sour between the Middle Eastern powers, especially since India has strong ties with the Kingdom, which is a major trade partner and oil supplier?
All these speculations have prompted the Ministry of External Affairs to address it. After the conclusion of Sheikh Mohamed’s visit, India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri sought to dismiss speculations and downplayed the possibility of the Strategic Defence Partnership drawing India into West Asian conflicts.
Without mentioning the Pakistan-Saudi pact, Misri said the Partnership was “not necessarily a response to any specific event that may have taken place in the region.”
Misri said that the India-UAE defence partnership was “to expand the existing bilateral defence cooperation across a number of areas. It was not about any [Indian] intent to get involved in a hypothetical future scenario in the region,” he added.
That said, India needs to tread carefully. It has so much at stake in the Middle East, including the nine million Indians who live in the Gulf countries. Every policy decision from Delhi should ensure their livelihoods are not affected, along with the remittances from these countries.