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In what is likely the shortest official visit by a head of state to India, United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan spent just over three hours in New Delhi on Monday (January 19), during which the two nations signed a letter of intent to establish a framework for strategic defence partnership.
The brief visit saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally receive the UAE President at the airport, a gesture foreign secretary Vikram Misri described as “characteristic of the extremely warm and close relationship that the two leaders share”. The two leaders then travelled together by car to the prime minister’s residence for discussions.
Speaking later to reporters, Misri said that though the “visit of just about three hours, it has been an extremely substantive visit”.
The trip marked Sheikh Mohamed’s fourth visit to India, reciprocating Modi’s seven visits to the Emirate. Modi last travelled to the UAE in February 2024, when the two countries signed a bilateral investment treaty.
In total, five documents were exchanged and seven announcements made during this visit, covering defence, space, energy, food security and investment.
Billed as the top outcome, the strategic defence partnership letter of intent, based on “mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity,” aims to expand cooperation in counter-terrorism, maritime security, cyber security, defence industrial collaboration, advanced technologies and special forces training, with the two sides set to negotiate a Framework Agreement.
The agreement comes amid shifting regional dynamics in the Gulf. Tensions between Saudi Arabia and the UAE have emerged in recent months over divergent approaches to conflicts in Yemen and Sudan.
Tensions spiked in December 2025 after the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council launched operations near the Saudi border in Yemen. Riyadh responded by striking what it said was an STC weapons shipment arriving from the UAE and demanded that Emirati forces leave Yemen within 24 hours. It also accused Abu Dhabi of encouraging separatist actions that threatened Saudi security. The UAE denied the allegation and announced it would withdraw its remaining troops.
This month, Saudi aircraft hit STC positions after its leader, Aidarous al-Zubaidi, skipped talks in Riyadh. Yemen’s presidential council expelled Zubaidi and charged him with treason. The Saudi coalition then accused the UAE of helping smuggle Zubaidi out of Yemen via Somalia to Abu Dhabi.
The rupture over Yemen reflects a broader Saudi-UAE rivalry stretching from the Red Sea to Sudan, where Abu Dhabi has backed the RSF while Riyadh has leaned toward the army-led government and hosted peace talks.
With the UAE having normalised ties with Israel and cultivating separatist partners around the peninsula, Saudi leaders fear being strategically boxed in, according to analysts.
thewire.in
The brief visit saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally receive the UAE President at the airport, a gesture foreign secretary Vikram Misri described as “characteristic of the extremely warm and close relationship that the two leaders share”. The two leaders then travelled together by car to the prime minister’s residence for discussions.
Speaking later to reporters, Misri said that though the “visit of just about three hours, it has been an extremely substantive visit”.
The trip marked Sheikh Mohamed’s fourth visit to India, reciprocating Modi’s seven visits to the Emirate. Modi last travelled to the UAE in February 2024, when the two countries signed a bilateral investment treaty.
In total, five documents were exchanged and seven announcements made during this visit, covering defence, space, energy, food security and investment.
Billed as the top outcome, the strategic defence partnership letter of intent, based on “mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity,” aims to expand cooperation in counter-terrorism, maritime security, cyber security, defence industrial collaboration, advanced technologies and special forces training, with the two sides set to negotiate a Framework Agreement.
The agreement comes amid shifting regional dynamics in the Gulf. Tensions between Saudi Arabia and the UAE have emerged in recent months over divergent approaches to conflicts in Yemen and Sudan.
Tensions spiked in December 2025 after the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council launched operations near the Saudi border in Yemen. Riyadh responded by striking what it said was an STC weapons shipment arriving from the UAE and demanded that Emirati forces leave Yemen within 24 hours. It also accused Abu Dhabi of encouraging separatist actions that threatened Saudi security. The UAE denied the allegation and announced it would withdraw its remaining troops.
This month, Saudi aircraft hit STC positions after its leader, Aidarous al-Zubaidi, skipped talks in Riyadh. Yemen’s presidential council expelled Zubaidi and charged him with treason. The Saudi coalition then accused the UAE of helping smuggle Zubaidi out of Yemen via Somalia to Abu Dhabi.
The rupture over Yemen reflects a broader Saudi-UAE rivalry stretching from the Red Sea to Sudan, where Abu Dhabi has backed the RSF while Riyadh has leaned toward the army-led government and hosted peace talks.
With the UAE having normalised ties with Israel and cultivating separatist partners around the peninsula, Saudi leaders fear being strategically boxed in, according to analysts.
India and UAE Agree to Pursue Strategic Defence Partnership
The trip marked Sheikh Mohamed’s fourth visit to India, reciprocating Modi’s seven visits to the Emirate.
