Abu Dhabi- India and United Arab Emirates signed on Wednesday the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and a number of memorandums, on the sidelines of official negotiations held between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and UAE’s deputy commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

Negotiations tackled ways of underpinning cooperation and several regional and international topics of mutual interest.

“Through these meetings, we see the keenness of both parties to reinforce bilateral relations and push them forward. This increases our confidence that we can build a strategic partnership for the best interest of future and current generations,” said Modi.

This is a historic moment because the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and other signed memorandums open new doors to cooperation and joint action — it also represents a transitional step in the present and future of these relations, according to Sheikh Mohammed.

“We regard the UAE as an important partner,” Modi said.

He added that the signed agreement contributes in reinforcing linkages between the two countries and that the agreement in the field of energy represents a link between India and UAE in the pursuit to stabilize the energy security in India.

Both, Sheikh Mohammed and Modi decided to intensify cooperation in the defense field, expand training programs, increase mutual training and discover opportunities to participate in the production of defense materials.

They added in a common statement that, “both countries achieved a remarkable progress in economic relations in which India is the biggest commercial partner of UAE while UAE is the third partner in regards to India following U.S. and China.”

They mentioned the relatively new phenomenon i.e. the increasing Emirate investments in Indian economy in several fields such as: infrastructure, energy, health care, retail, hospitality and real-estate.