Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed al Nahyan welcomes Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his arrival in Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital where Modi is currently camping, has a sovereign wealth fund of about $800 billion. This fund is parked with the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

Highlights of the visit

• Saudi Arabia is believed to have sovereign wealth funds in excess of $671 billion while the figure for Kuwait is $592 billion.
• Sovereign wealth funds invest globally in such areas like stocks, bonds, real estate, precious metals, or in alternative investments such as hedge funds. These funds are typically created by such countries which have budgetary surpluses and have little or no international debt.
• Seeking investments from the cash-rich country like the UAE, which Modi rightly described as a “mini India” with 2.6 million Indian expatriates accounting for 28 percent population of the UAE, has to be obviously very high on the Indian prime minister’s radar screen.
• India desperately needs uniform taxes and that’s why the Goods and Services Tax (GST) legislation is of crucial importance for India. This legislation will ensure uniform tax across the length and breadth of the country.
• But practically all 29 Indian states and seven union territories have their own taxation structures. The Modi government was not allowed by the opposition to even introduce the GST bill in the just concluded monsoon session of parliament.
• However, it is not just investment alone that makes the UAE a key country for India. The UAE has the world’s seventh largest oil reserves and the seventeenth largest gas reserves. UAE is India’s biggest investor with total FDI from UAE to India pegged at three billion dollars.
• On security front, the importance of UAE for India has grown even further in the wake of the Islamic State (IS) entrenching itself in the region. That is why PM Modi today made a strong pitch in Abu Dhabi for closer partnership between the two countries and counter terrorism jointly.

Expected Question

Which is the first islamic country, outside the SAARC to be visited by Indian Prime minister?

– Bangladesh

Along with Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh which country has been choosen by PM Modi  to pay a stand-alone bilateral visit?

– UAE