Interview/ Noura bint Mohamed Al Kaabi, minister of state at the ministry of foreign affairs, UAE
Even as bilateral trade and people-to-people ties continue to remain strong, India and the UAE are deepening cultural ties and strengthening cooperation in education, sports, arts, heritage and tourism.
Noura bint Mohamed Al Kaabi, the UAE’s minister of state at the ministry of foreign affairs, speaks to THE WEEK about the flourishing relationship.
Q/ Cultural relations, sports and arts are not the first things that come to mind when you think of India-UAE relations. How do you think that can be changed?
I would challenge that premise slightly. Culture may not always dominate the headlines, but it has always been at the heart of the UAE-India relationship. Trade, investment, energy and aviation are highly visible dimensions of our partnership, but beneath them is something much older and deeply human: generations of movement, exchange and familiarity between our societies.
The Indian community has been part of life in the UAE for decades, and those connections are reflected in our everyday lives. What we are doing now is giving this dimension of the relationship greater institutional structure. The [India-UAE] Cultural Council brings together institutions working across culture, heritage, youth, sports, archives and tourism, and provides a mechanism for cooperation to continue between official visits.
Q/ Could you tell us more about the two major announcements you are making on this visit to India? What does this ‘cultural exchange’ involve?
Our understanding of cultural exchange is becoming much broader. It is no longer limited to museums or exhibitions. It can involve writers, athletes, students, artisans, designers, universities, archives and cultural institutions, with different forms of exchange reaching different audiences.
The maritime heritage project is a good example. Indian specialists were in the UAE in August to carry out 3D scanning of artefacts. The next stages involve replicas, authentication and inspection, and ultimately the loan of original UAE artefacts to India’s National Maritime Heritage Complex. We are also developing the Archives Exhibition, through which our two national archival institutions are working on shared historical material that can be presented together.
For me, cultural exchange is no longer simply about presenting something to one another. It is increasingly about creating together. An artefact, an archive, an athlete, an artisan or a student can all create a connection.
Q/ India and the UAE have a long history of cultural and civilisational connections. How can heritage tourism become a stronger part of the relationship, and what would you like to see more Emiratis discovering in India?
India is not one destination. It offers many different histories and experiences. Delhi, Rajasthan, Kerala and Gujarat, for example, each provides a very different encounter with India’s heritage. There is considerable potential for Emirati travellers to experience India through its architecture, archaeology, food, crafts and museums, not simply as additions to a conventional itinerary, but as reasons to travel in themselves.
There is also a shared history to discover. For centuries, maritime trade across the Indian Ocean carried pearls, textiles, spices and other goods between the Gulf and India, but it also carried people, ideas and knowledge. The Indian Ocean did not separate us; for centuries, it connected us.
That is one reason the National Maritime Heritage Complex is relevant to us. UAE artefacts can help place the Gulf within the story India is telling about its maritime history.
Q/ The Indian diaspora has been an important part of the UAE’s social and cultural landscape for decades. How do you see the contribution of the Indian community to the UAE’s cultural life, and how can that contribution be further encouraged?
The Indian community is not simply contributing to the UAE’s cultural life; it is part of the UAE’s cultural story. That contribution has developed over decades and is visible in food, cinema, education, business, sport and celebrations. There is also something less visible but equally important: when communities live alongside one another over generations, cultural familiarity develops naturally.
Today, that contribution continues to evolve. Indian artists, designers, writers, entrepreneurs and other creative professionals are participating in a UAE cultural sector that is itself becoming more diverse.
Culture in the UAE is not something produced by one community and observed by another. Increasingly, it reflects the interaction between the many people who live here and what they create together.
Q/ Looking beyond the announcements being made during this visit, where would you like to see India-UAE cultural cooperation go over the next five years? What are the areas where you think there is still untapped potential?
Over the next five years, I would like to see us move from exchange towards deeper co-creation. There is already considerable movement between our countries. The next stage is to deepen the relationships between the institutions and people behind that movement.
There is significant potential between museums and archives, universities, sports organisations and the creative industries. I am particularly interested in areas where traditional knowledge can meet contemporary practice, such as craftsmanship and design, or archives and new technology.
I would also like to see more work produced jointly. Not simply an Emirati exhibition travelling to India or an Indian performance coming to the UAE, but artists, researchers, designers and institutions developing work together.
The ambition is not simply to have more Emirati culture in India or more Indian culture in the UAE. It is to create things together. That, for me, is where the real potential lies.
