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INTERVIEW
NOV 15 - NOV 28 2017
Website: www.asianlite.ae Email: newsdesk@asianlite.ae
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AN ENVOY ON A MISSION BY ANASUDHIN AZEEZ
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ndo-UK relations are at an all time high after the historic visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the UAE and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan’s visit to India as the Chief Guest at the celebrations of the 68th Republic Day in January of this year. The Ruler of Sharjah, His Highness Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi’s visit to the state of Kerala cements Indo-UK ties even further and is a goodwill exercise seeing as how the largest contingent of expats hails from that region. Several senior Indian ministers including Nitin Gadkari and Alphonse Kannanthanam will attend the India-UAE partnership summit in Dubai on October 30-31. The World Government Summit has announced that India will be the Guest of Honour for its summit scheduled for Feb.11 - 13, 2018. Busy days ahead for Ambassador Navdeep Singh Suri. Asian Lite’s Anasudhin Azeez meets HE Navdeep Singh Suri to get more details about his role in Improving India, UAE ties and the growing influence of India on various sectors in the UAE. How was the trip to Kerala? I had the pleasure of accompanying HH Sheikh Sultan bi Muhammad Al Qassimi, Ruler of Sharjah and the member of Supreme Council of the UAE, to Kerala. He was there officially for three days, and there was very useful communication between the delegation and Chief Minister Mr Pinarayi Vijayan of Kerala. HH Dr. Sultan gave an amazingly informed lecture at the capital city on the historical links between the Gulf states, and particularly the Malabar coast in India. He has done his PHD on that subject and particularly his knowledge about history since the Portuguese times is deep and rivetting. In recognition of his tremendous research and knowledge on the subject, he was also given an honorary doctorate by the University of Calicut at Raj Bhawan in Thiruvananthapuram. So all in all a
very good visit and a very, very positive outcome, particularly because he announced that he would release 149 Indian prisoners who had been in Sharjah jail for various minor offenses. How was the public response to this historic royal tour. Did the delegation interact with the people? Keralites are known for their hospitality. I was really impressed with the spontaneity of the love they showered on the Ruler and his delegation. The visit was primarily Dr. Sheikh Sultan’s. I was just there as India’s representative. So I think the spotlight was very much on His Highness as it should have been. Did you pick up any Malayalam phrases? Not really. Most of the conversations were in English, and there was limited time and opportunity to learn Malayalam. Maybe one day. What do you have to comment on the full agenda in the near future between India and the UAE? Let’s take it at two phases. The first is the
high level visits and high level programmes. We are expecting the chief minister of Andra Pradesh, Mr. Chandra Babu Naidu here in Abu Dhabi later this month. We are also organising a major business event called the India-UAE Partnership Summit towards the end of this month. We have India-UAE strategic dialogue Ambassador Suri with Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al on October 29th for which Nahyan during the inauguration of the Yoga Day our minister of state Mr. MJ Certainly these are integral part of our diaAkbar is coming. That’s just in October. We have a very strong delegation, logue with the government of the UAE. We almost 83 people coming from India for the have UAE companies investing in India. There Word Skills Summit in Abu Dhabi. In No- are several big companies which are actively vember, we have a range of high level activi- engaged with India. UAE is India’s third largest ties during the visit of Mr. Suresh Prabu, the trading partner when we look at non-oil trade and India is UAE’s largest trading partner. Our Minister of Commerce and Industry. I think the importance of World Govern- annual non-oil trade last year was to the tune ment Summit lies in the fact that it is the flagship of $52 billion and our exports to UAE was to event organised by the government of UAE and the tune of $32 billion. So there is a very large particularly His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin economic relationship between our countries. You played a key role in Invest in India Rashid Al Maktoum, the prime minister of the UAE and the Ruler of Dubai. It is perhaps the world’s only during the early 90s. After 25 years, India is event that is focused specifically on governance issues. literally booming now. India is one of the best Now Prime Minister Modi has invested immense ener- destinations to invest. So what is your take on it gy in championing the use of technology in governance. after 25 years, the efforts are bearing fruits now. When we conducted our first ever investWhen we look at the Jandhan Adhar mobile platforms, ment promotion seminar in Singapore back in the effort is to see how you can use cutting edge technology, how you can use mobile apps to cut down on October 1991, soon after the first doors of ecocorruption to bring in transparency and to deliver socio- nomic reforms was announced, I can tell you that we would be greeted with a fair amount of economic benefits to the last mile. This World Government Summit will give skepticism. The Indian story was not known at us the opportunity as the guest of honour coun- that time, we had to knock doors and even break try to showcase the vast strides that India is doors down to get access. Today the doors are making in this area. The WGS will bring over open for us, because of the rapid economic 150 countries and heads of several international growth of India, because of the reforms initiated by Prime Minister Modi, because of the organisations under one umbrella. What’s your comment on UAE govern- credibility that he has built for India in so many ment’s support to various countries. Today it is much more easy a task to programmes launched by promote India as an investment destination. Where do you want to see India by 2025? Prime Minister Modi in You know the Prime Minister has given India? a really interesting vision for new India and I don’t want to add anything to that, except to say that all of us wish to see an India which is free of poverty, which is free of disease, we see an India that respects cleanliness, we see an India that respects diversity, that shuns castism and communalism and that shines as a beacon for other countries to follow. India is targeting to 13 million tourists by 2020. So what is the role you are playing to promote India in the UAE? We have a tourism office in Dubai and we work closely with them. We recognise the market from UAE is quite different from the market in some of the other countries. Here you got a very high end market and so what we are trying to do really to reach out to key constituents with some of the top end packages whether it’s the Maharaja Express or the Palace on Wheels or some of our high end resorts or SPAs and so on. That’s the kind of market is liked here in the UAE. It is certainly part of our effort to see how we can get more people from the emirates to visit some of the really exciting locations in India. UAE, especially Dubai, is gearing up