Relations with the Arab world strengthened during PM Modi's tenure, and understand the equation of change through these 4 countries

Today is Prime Minister Modi's birthday, the PM has turned 74 years old. When he became the Prime Minister of the country for the first time in May 2014, hardly anyone would have thought that India's relations with Islamic countries would be so strong, but in the last decade India has given priority to diplomatic relations with Islamic countries, especially the Arab world. This is the reason why India's relations with many Arab countries including Saudi Arabia, the UAE have become very strong.

 

In the last 10 years, about 15 countries have honoured Prime Minister Modi with the highest civilian honour, including many Islamic countries. It is an example of how PM Narendra Modi, who has a Hindutva image, has created new dimensions of relations with Islamic countries and strengthened them. In this article, we will learn about India's relations and changing equations with 4 countries of the Arab world.

Talking about the most important Arab country, India has diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia since the time of independence. But during the tenure of PM Modi, an unbreakable friendship was seen between the two countries. In April 2016, Prime Minister Modi was awarded the highest civilian honor in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In February 2019, when Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman visited India, he announced an investment of $ 100 billion in India and 6 MoUs were signed. During this time, Saudi Arabia joined the International Solar Alliance (ISA) launched by PM Modi. In October 2019, Prime Minister Modi once again visited Riyadh and the Strategic Partnership Council (SPC) agreement was signed between the two countries.

 

 

India and Saudi Arabia are important trading partners of each other, bilateral trade between the two countries was $52.76 billion in the financial year 2022-23. Cooperation between India and Saudi Arabia has increased in the energy and defense sector. At the same time, during the G20 conference held in September last year, an economic corridor was announced between 7 countries including India and Saudi Arabia. Apart from the two countries, the US, Germany, Italy, France and UAE are also included in this project. Through this project, trade between the Gulf countries and South Asia will become much easier.

Strong bilateral relations with the UAE

Diplomatic relations between India and UAE were established in the year 1972, but bilateral relations between the two countries have strengthened during PM Modi's tenure. You can guess this from the fact that Prime Minister Modi has visited UAE 7 times during his tenure. At the same time, 5 years ago, he has been awarded the UAE's highest honor 'Order of Zayed'. UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed has also visited India several times. Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed attended the Vibrant Gujarat Summit in January this year as the Chief Guest. UAE is a major strategic and trade partner of India. Under the CEPA agreement between the two countries in the year 2022, a target has been set to increase bilateral trade to $ 100 billion.

About 3.5 million Indians live in the UAE, which is about 35 percent of the total population of the UAE. Along with strategic and trade relations, cultural relations are also strong between the two countries. There are more than 100 international Indian schools in the UAE where CBSE and Kerala Board education is provided. In February 2024, PM Modi inaugurated the BAPS temple in Abu Dhabi, the PM described it as a symbol of communal harmony and unity for the whole world.

An example of friendship with Qatar

During the tenure of Prime Minister Modi, the friendship between India and Qatar has set an example. About 7 years ago, when 4 Gulf countries had banned Qatar, India had helped Qatar a lot. Recently, Qatar, while maintaining friendship with India, released 8 former officers of the Indian Navy from jail, which was considered a big diplomatic victory for the Indian government and PM Modi. These 8 people were sentenced to death by a Qatar court, but after about 3 months of diplomatic talks and legal process, Qatar released them.

Cooperation between the two countries is rapidly increasing in various fields. During PM Modi's first term, Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani made a state visit to India. During this, discussions were held on increasing partnerships between the two countries in the fields of energy, petrochemical, infrastructure development, education, health, and investment. During Hamad Al Thani's visit to India in March 2015, 6 agreements were signed between the two countries. Next year, in the last month of 2016, Qatar's Prime Minister also visited India.

Apart from this, Prime Minister Modi also visited Qatar in June 2016, after about 8 years an Indian Prime Minister visited Qatar. During the PM's visit, 7 MoUs were signed between the two countries. Prime Minister Modi also visited Qatar in February this year, the special thing was that this visit of the PM was not announced in advance, after release from Qatar, former Indian Navy officers reached India, and then information about PM Modi's Qatar visit was given.

Bahrain-India have strong ties.

If we talk about Bahrain, about 3.5 lakh Indians live in this country with a population of 15 lakh. Which is a big pillar of strong bilateral relations between the two countries. Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a two-day state visit to Bahrain in August 2019. He was invited by Bahrain's Prime Minister Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa. This was the first visit of any Indian Prime Minister to Bahrain.

During his visit, Prime Minister Modi laid the foundation stone for the reconstruction of the 200-year-old Shri Krishna temple in Bahrain. During this, India and Bahrain agreed to strengthen relations in the field of defense and maritime security.

Relations between Bahrain and India strengthened further during the Corona epidemic. The Government of India gifted 1 lakh doses of Covishield to Bahrain, while the Bahraini government provided adequate medical services to the Indians living there. According to the data of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of India, a trade of about $ 1980 million has taken place between the two countries in the year 2022-23.

On 25 August 2019, during the visit of Prime Minister Modi, Bahrain honored him with the country's highest honor 'The King Hamad Order of the Renaissance'. This honor was given to him by the King of Bahrain, which shows the closeness of relations between the two countries.