UAE and India convene for 5th round of joint Consular Committee

The United Arab Emirates and the Republic of India held the fifth session of their joint consular committee in New Delhi, to advance and consolidate cooperation in all joint consular fields in serving the citizens of the two countries.

On the UAE side, the meeting was chaired by His Excellency Khalid Abdulla Belhoul, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and on the Indian side, His Excellency Muktesh Pardeshi, Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs.

During the meeting, the two sides discussed a number of common consular matters and plans to follow up and develop them, in addition to means to enhance joint consular cooperation.

His Excellency Khaled Abdullah Belhoul, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, praised the historical relations between the United Arab Emirates and the friendly Republic of India. He also expressed the UAE’s appreciation for the efforts made by the Indian side to strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries in light of the comprehensive strategic partnership since 2017.

Belhoul stressed that the UAE and the Republic of India have succeeded in establishing an advanced and sustainable model for their strategic relations, which has yielded many qualitative achievements in several sectors. The achievements attained within the framework of bilateral relations between the two countries constitute an incentive to move forward towards further successes in order to achieve joint developments goals between the two friendly countries and their peoples and to develop mechanisms and solutions for a future rich in cooperation and partnerships in the consular field.

His Excellency Khaled Abdullah Belhoul conveyed the greetings of His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and his praise of the positive developments between the two countries. He stressed the UAE’s keenness and interest in strengthening and developing relations between the two countries, in a way that reflects the ambitions and directions of the wise leadership.

The relationship between the United Arab Emirates and the Republic of India is characterized by a remarkable path of growth and deepening cooperation, especially since bilateral relations were upgraded to a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2017. The implementation of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) on May 1, 2022 has greatly bolstered trade relations. The two sides seek to achieve a bilateral trade volume of up to 100 billion US dollars before the target year of 2030.