Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as the chief guest on January 26 at the Republic Day parade, 2017.
Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as the chief guest on January 26 at the Republic Day parade, 2017. This was confirmed by the ministry of external affairs (MEA) on Sunday evening.
Oil-rich Abu Dhabi, with one of the highest petroleum reserves in the world is the leading Emirate in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Relations between the UAE and India had received an enormous boost following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s hugely successful visit to the UAE in August last year.
“We hope to welcome a dear friend of India, His Highness (HH), Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, as Republic Day 2017 Chief Guest,” MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.
There were also media reports from the UAE that in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince had “expresses thanks for the kind invitation to attend India’s Republic Day celebrations”, adding that “Our strong relations are deeply rooted in history; our strategic cooperation has increased, driven by our mutual aspirations to develop it”.
PM Modi’s visit to the UAE last year had been the first in 34 years by any Indian Prime Minister after Mrs. Indira Gandhi who had visited in 1981. The Indian expatriate community is the largest ethnic community in UAE constituting roughly about 30 per cent of the Gulf country’s population.
There are also more than 2.6 million Indians who live in the UAE and their annual remittance is estimated to be around $14 billion.
The visit of Sheikh Al Nahyan, who is also the Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE armed forces, is expected to give a further boost to bilateral ties in the key areas of trade and security.
