Modi's second state visit to UAE begins

Agencies
February 10, 2018

Abu Dhabi, Feb 10: Today will mark a watershed moment for the UAE-India relations with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arriving in Abu Dhabi for his second state visit.

The two countries are expected to sign as many as 14 agreements during the two-day visit starting February 10, shifting gears of the strategic partnership in a gamut of areas including space technology, skills development, finance and defence cooperation and investments.

Modi's two-day visit on February 10 and 11 will also see work starting on the construction of the first Hindu temple in Abu Dhabi, fulfilling the long-pending wish of the Hindu community in the Capital.

Modi first visited the UAE in August 2015 becoming the first Indian Prime Minister to visit the emirates in 34 years after Indira Gandhi.

Modi will arrive in Abu Dhabi today evening from Palestine. He will meet His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and will attend a state banquet.

On Sunday morning, Modi will visit Wahat Al Karama (Martyrs' Memorial) and pay tribute to the martyred war heroes of the UAE. He will then proceed to Dubai where he will deliver a keynote address at the 6th World Government Summit, in which India is the chief guest country.

Modi will also address a 1,800-strong gathering of the Indian community at the Dubai Opera, which is expected to be a scaled down version of his public address in 2015. More than 50,000 Indians had thronged the International Cricket Stadium in Dubai to listen to their Prime Minister on his first visit.

The Opera event is significant as Modi will flag off the laying of the foundation stone of the first Hindu temple in Abu Dhabi, which will happen simultaneously and will be live-streamed into the iconic Dubai Opera auditorium.

Indian Ambassador to the UAE Navdeep Singh Suri said the latest visit by the Indian PM will mark the dawn of a new era in the India-UAE relations.

"During the year, we have seen major UAE investments into India, a significant increase in defence and security cooperation, a transformation in our energy ties from a buyer-seller relationship to a strategic partnership."

New trajectory in UAE-India ties

Since Modi's first visit, the trajectory of the India-UAE ties have hit a renewed pace with two countries forging a new era of cooperation through the signing of a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement.

During Modi's tenure, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan visited India twice - in February 2016 and January 2017.

The two governments signed 17 bilateral agreements in January 2016, and 14 agreements in February 2017. 

The UAE targets to invest $75 billion in India's infrastructure development. UAE's investments in India is also soaring. In October last year, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia) signed an agreement with India's National Investment and Infrastructure Fund to invest $1 billion in India. DP World has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with India's National Infrastructure and Investment Fund (NIIF) in May 2017 to invest $1 billion in India.

The UAE is home to more than 3.5 million Indians - the biggest Indian diaspora in the world, and 1,706 flights weekly operate between the two countries.

Comments

An Indian
 - 
Saturday, 10 Feb 2018

Before commencing construction work of Hindu Temple in Abu Dhabi, the UAE government must have put condition to Modi to solve the Babri Masjid issue.

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News Network
November 13,2024

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Beirut: The Israeli army on Tuesday continued to launch attacks against civilians in Lebanon, targeting them in several areas without prior evacuation warnings.

However, 13 airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs in the space of only three hours were preceded by evacuation warnings.

The attacks caused no injuries but resulted in widespread destruction of residential buildings and commercial, medical and educational centers.

The airstrikes in southern Lebanon and Bekaa region, reaching Akkar in Lebanon’s far north, erased any hope of a near-term ceasefire settlement.

The strikes were accompanied by an announcement on Israel’s Channel 14 that “the Israeli army has expanded its operations in southern Lebanon to areas it had not reached since the beginning of the ground operation.”

About 50 days have passed since Israel intensified its hostile operations in Lebanon targeting Hezbollah. The death toll from these confrontations and attacks has passed 3,200, with more than 14,000 wounded.

For the first time, an airstrike targeted a mountainous area between Baalchmay and Aabadiyeh on the road leading to Aley, destroying a building housing displaced people.

The mayor of Baalchmay, Adham Al-Danaf, confirmed that “the airstrike targeted a residential building in the Dhour Aabadiyeh area.”

The initial toll from the Ministry of Health showed “five people killed and two injured.”

The raids that targeted Beirut’s southern suburbs for the first time in the morning, unlike nightly raids before, caused huge destruction. Those who evacuated their homes after Israeli warnings, used their phones to record the collapse of empty buildings in Sfeir, Haret Hreik, Bir Al-Abed, Mrayjeh, Laylaki and Hadath.

Israeli warplanes also targeted Tyre, where a strike on a building killed three people and injured many others, while a raid on Tefahta killed a man identified as Kifah Khalil and his family.

Attacks were widespread, with Yater and Zebqine subject to artillery shelling, a civilian being killed in Hermel, and further attacks on Bouday and an area between the towns of Srifa and Arsoun.

A raid on the town of Siddiqin killed two people and injured several others, while an attack on the Mechref farm led to one fatality and multiple injuries.

The search for those missing after an Israeli raid on the town of Ain Yaacoub in Akkar, in the northernmost part of Lebanon, continued until dawn.

During the operation, 14 bodies were retrieved, identified as those of residents displaced from the town of Arabsalim in the Iqlim Al-Tuffah area of the south, along with members of a Syrian family, a mother and three of her children. Additionally, there were 10 people in critical condition.

The targeted residence belongs to a Lebanese citizen, Hussein Hashim, who is reported to be a member of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party.

An airstrike on the town of Saksakiyeh in the Sidon region on Monday night resulted in yet another tragedy.

It appeared that the intended target was the Shoumer family, who just days before lost Hussein Amin Shoumer and his two sisters in a drone strike near Al-Awali River.

Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee issued additional evacuation warnings for towns in the southern region along the Litani River, which, according to estimates from the mayors, are currently 90 percent uninhabited.

In the meantime, Hezbollah announced its continued efforts to “combat the intrusions of Israeli forces and to strike military installations and towns in the north.”

Hezbollah said in a statement that it confronted “an Israeli Hermes 450 drone in the airspace of Nabatieh and forced it to leave Lebanese airspace.”

The party also announced that it targeted “Kfar Blum settlement with a rocket salvo.”

On the Israeli side, air raid sirens sounded in areas of Upper and Western Galilee and in the town of Kiryat Shmona and its surroundings.

The Israeli army confirmed that “a drone exploded in Nesher, east of Haifa, without activating the air raid sirens,” and that “a drone launched from Lebanon crashed into a school in Gesher HaZiv, north of Nahariya.”

Israel’s Channel 13 reported the Israeli military’s assessment regarding Hezbollah’s military strength, claiming that the group currently possesses approximately 100 precision missiles, thousands of artillery shells, and hundreds of rockets. Additionally, it was highlighted that “there are around 200 Lebanese towns that remain unvisited.”

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News Network
November 15,2024

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Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has killed or captured 69 terrorists linked to the Israeli spy agency Mossad during a major counterterrorism drill in the country's southeast, its spokesman says.  

General Ahmad Shafaei, the spokesman for the “Martyrs of Security” drill, said Friday that a total of 23 terrorists have been killed and another 46 arrested in various clean-up operations ever since the IRGC Ground Force launched it in the Sistan and Baluchestan province on November 1.

Seven terrorists have also turned themselves in during the period.

“The undeniable fact about terrorists is that they rely on arrogant powers, particularly the intelligence service of the wicked and vicious Zionist regime," Shafaei said.

“Unfortunately, weapons and munitions at terrorists’ disposal are among the most sophisticated ones in the world. This accounts for their heavy dependence.” 

The official stated that several members of the disbanded terror teams were non-Iranian nationals, who had been hired by foreign intelligence agencies to carry out acts of sabotage and terror inside Iran.

In a most recent operation, six terrorists were arrested and four others were eliminated, three of whom were non-Iranians, he added. 

On October 26, ten members of Iran's law enforcement forces were killed in a terrorist attack in the Gohar Kuh district of Taftan in the Sistan and Baluchestan province.

The so-called Jaish al-Adl terrorist group claimed responsibility for the assault, which was one of the deadliest in the province in recent months.

The group has carried out numerous terrorist attacks in Iran, primarily in Sistan and Baluchestan.

Its tactics include the abduction of border guards as well as targeting civilians and police stations within the province to incite chaos and disorder.

In January, Iran launched a military operation during which the headquarters of the Pakistan-based terrorist group was targeted in missile strikes, destroying its infrastructure.

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News Network
November 7,2024

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In a significant gesture towards a smooth transition, President Joe Biden invited President-elect Donald Trump to the White House to discuss the transfer of power, following a pledge from Vice President Kamala Harris to uphold a peaceful handover.

Vice President Harris, in a heartfelt address last night, publicly acknowledged Trump’s victory and assured her full commitment to a respectful and orderly shift in governance. "Our allegiance is not to any individual but to the Constitution itself," Harris emphasized, highlighting the need for national unity and respect for democratic processes.

Reports from The Washington Post reveal that Trump’s team is already hard at work on transition plans, actively considering candidates for key Cabinet positions. For Treasury Secretary, billionaire investor John Paulson and economic strategist Scott Bessent are in the running, while Senator Marco Rubio and former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell are top contenders for Secretary of State.

Additionally, the Trump camp is eyeing influential figures for strategic roles. North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum and former primary rival Vivek Ramaswamy are rumored to be cabinet-bound, with Senator Tom Cotton potentially taking on the role of Defense Secretary. The highest priority, however, is securing a Chief of Staff, with Trump advisor Susie Wiles and Brooke Rollins among the frontrunners for this critical post.

Trump's campaign has reportedly conducted a rigorous vetting process, aimed at bringing loyalists into his administration to ensure alignment with his goals. Campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt confirmed that personnel selections would be announced soon, while Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung confirmed that White House transition talks are imminent.

Adding to the intrigue, there are whispers that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. might take on a prominent role in restructuring health and food safety agencies. Known for his controversial views on vaccines, Kennedy’s potential appointment is already sparking debates across the political spectrum.

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