Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, center, listens to a guide as he visits the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque with Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, second left, during the first day of a two-day visit to the UAE, in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. — AP ABU DHABI — India's prime minister began a two-day tour of the United Arab Emirates with a visit to its largest mosque on Sunday in a gesture of outreach to Muslims ahead of a planned speech to tens of thousands of Indian expatriates and bilateral meetings aimed at improving already strong trade links. Narendra Modi is the first Indian premier to visit the country in 34 years. He will hold talks on Monday with Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who greeted Modi at the airport, and Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Modi kicked off his visit with a tour of Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. Modi also visited the grave of the UAE's founder Sheikh Zayed, who is buried in the mosque compound. Dozens of Indians gathered at the gates of the mosque to catch a glimpse of the prime minister, who took a selfie with two Emirati officials outside the mosque and posted the picture on his Twitter account. The premier plans to deliver a speech Monday at the Dubai Cricket Stadium. More than 52,000 people have registered to attend, according to the local daily Gulf News. In an interview published in Gulf News on Sunday, Modi acknowledged that “there is a mini-India in the UAE.” The UAE, a federation of seven emirates, is home to about 2.6 million Indian expatriates who comprise a third of the total population and outnumber the local Emirati population. Annual Indian remittances from the UAE are estimated at $14 billion. Modi said India is the UAE's second-largest trading partner and the UAE is India's third largest trading partner behind the US and China. Trade between India and the UAE reached $60 billion last year. Many Indians have made their wealth living in the UAE after settling here just as Abu Dhabi and Dubai were transforming from fishing ports into bustling investment hubs buoyed by the discovery of oil. Indians are among the largest investors in UAE real estate, and have helped make Dubai International the busiest airport globally for international transit passengers, with more than 950 weekly flights between the two countries. However, half of the 2.6 million Indians living in the UAE are migrant workers, according to the Indian Embassy. Many work in lower paying construction jobs, building the UAE's dazzling skyscrapers and shopping centers. After his tour of the mosque, Modi visited one of the UAE's largest labor camps in Abu Dhabi, where 50,000 migrant workers reside. He spent about 10 minutes shaking hands and talking with some of them in a gymnasium. Dharmindar Singh, a 27-year-old security guard who lives in the camp, said that he never imagined he would get the chance to meet India's prime minister and shake his hand. Prasad Adepali, a 32-year-old security guard who has lived in the UAE for 13 years, said he felt “very proud” after meeting Modi. Mohsko Ramu, a human resource assistant who has been working in the UAE for 15 years, said he told Modi about how expensive it is for most workers to visit their families back home. “They cannot afford to buy the airfare, even if they are going once a year or even once (every) two years,” Ramu said. The visit of Modi to the UAE has built a new momentum that will push both the countries to cooperate more closely on economy and investment, UAE Economy Minister Sultan Saeed Al Mansouri told Gulf News on Monday. “The visit has helped in addressing some of the challenges we had over the past and helped in creating a new vision for the relationship between India and the UAE. This has set an example of what the cooperation between countries should be,” said Al Mansouri after meeting Narendra Modi at an investors meeting in Masdar City. He said the UAE is keen to invest in infrastructure development, real estate projects, railways and tourism sectors in India. “The Prime Minister wanted to hear more about how UAE succeeded in creating such an infrastructure in tourism. India has a huge potential but did not really capture this whole potential to attract more tourists.” Addressing the investors meet, Modi said India has an immediate investment opportunity of $1 trillion and the government will take urgent steps to address concerns of the businessmen from this country and erase “deficit of 34 years”. “I have got some problems in legacy. I cannot take only the good points and leave aside the problems. Some things were stalled due to the indecisiveness and lethargy of the governments (in the last). It is my priority to kickstart those things.” Al Mansouri said the UAE investors can play a role in India's plan of building 50 million housing projects by year 2022. “UAE companies have the knowhow and capability to provide something like that. We believe that this is an area we will be interested in investing.” Tourism is another sector where the UAE is eyeing opportunities to invest. Mansouri said the laws and regulations of India should offer them more. “He (Modi) is adamant addressing all the challenging of the part. This is in a huge area of great interest for the UAE. We can build hotels, theme parks, shopping malls etc.” On the possibility of India importing more oil from the UAE, he said the UAE is open to meet demand for any oil from India. “The issue of energy is quite a challenge for India. It is a growing nation and the economy is growing 6 to 7 per cent and the demand for oil is there. This issue will be discussed further between representatives from both sides.” He said Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia) is already an investor in India and further invests depend on what the Indian side will provide. “Modi promised he would send India's minister of commerce to the UAE shortly to shed light on investments India wants. — AP
