India and the United Arab Emirates are going ahead with food security cooperation under the I2U2, a new West Asian quadrilateral that includes Israel and the United States.
The cooperation under this initiative was discussed during a meeting on Tuesday between visiting Foreign Minister of the UAE Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.
“On food security cooperation under I2U2, a delegation led by CEO of ADQ visited India in October 2022 to take discussions forward with different stakeholders,” the MEA said in a press note.
The I2U2 leaders’ summit was held in July in which a decision was taken to harness private capital among the member countries for projects on agriculture, infrastructure, digital connectivity, water, energy and transportation. ADQ is an “active investor” and a Sovereign Wealth Fund located in Abu Dhabi.
On Tuesday, the two sides took note that bilateral ties witnessed an “appreciable” growth since the conclusion of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement or CEPA that came into force on May 1.
“India’s exports to UAE between April-September 2022 were about $16 billion which was an increase of 24% year to year while India’s imports increased 38% to reach $28.4 billion in the same time period,” the MEA said.
Apart from, bilateral trade the two sides also discussed, energy, healthcare, defence, space, climate change, skills, fin-tech and start-ups.
The two Ministers also discussed “global situation and various regional hotspots” during the talks, the MEA added.