Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has been awarded the highest civilian award of United Arab Emirates (UAE) –The Zayed Medal. Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces made the announcement through a tweet.
“We have historical and comprehensive strategic ties with India, reinforced by the pivotal role of my dear friend, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who gave these relations a big boost. In appreciation of his efforts, the UAE President grants him the Zayed Medal,” he tweeted.
https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1113698733684867072/photo/1
Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces tweets that UAE President has awarded PM Narendra Modi with the Zayed Medal. pic.twitter.com/owXnP8BRqU— ANI (@ANI) April 4, 2019
Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces tweets that UAE President has awarded PM Narendra Modi with the Zayed Medal. pic.twitter.com/owXnP8BRqU
— ANI (@ANI) April 4, 2019
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj welcomed the announcement of the award to PM Modi saying the award is recognition of Prime Minister’s stellar role in ushering in a new era of strategic partnership.
She tweeted, “I am extremely happy to welcome the announcement of Order of Zayed for a great son of India Prime Minister @narendramodi by His Highness @MohamedBinZayed.”Adding, “This is in recognition of Prime Minister’s stellar role in ushering in a new era of strategic partnership with UAE and the best ever relations with the Islamic world.”
UAE-India ties in the last few years have grown manifold especially with a number of high-level visits.Indian PM Modi first visited the country in August of 2015 which was followed by a visit by Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in 2016.
The following year the Crown Prince was the chief guest at India’s Republic Day parade and again in 2018 PM Modi visited the country and was the chief guest at the sixth World Government Summit in Dubai. UAE is one of the very few countries Modi had visited twice.
Earlier this year, in a first, UAE invited India as a guest of honour at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation foreign ministers meet despite reservations from Pakistan.
“India-UAE commercial relations are anchored by energy cooperation, trade, investments by UAE in India and investments and businesses driven by Indian expatriates in UAE,” the ministry added.
On behalf of the people of UP, I Congratulate our Hon. PM Shri @narendramodi Ji on being conferred with Zayed Medal, highest civilian honor by UAE government for his international leadership & joint strategic cooperation between the two countries.
We Indians are proud of our PM.
— Yogi Adityanath (@myogiadityanath) April 4, 2019
India and UAE share warm relations that were strengthened after Prime Minister Modi paid a visit to the nation in 2015. PM Modi visited the UAE for the second time as Prime Minister in February last year and held wide-ranging talks with the Crown Prince.
Aftertheir talks, the two sides signed five agreements related to energy sector, railways, manpower and financial services.The Crown Prince had also visited India in 2017 as the chief guest for Republic Day celebrations in New Delhi.
In February, the Crown Prince telephoned Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan as part of his efforts to de-escalate Indo-Pak tensions in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack claimed by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group which killed 40 CRPF personnel.
Congratulatory messages poured in for the Prime Minister on receiving UAE’s top civilian honour:Union Ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad, Sushma Swaraj, former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and several other leaders tweeted about india’s “best ever relations with the Islamic world”.
The UAE accounts for 8 per cent of India’s oil imports and is the fifth largest supplier of crude oil to India. The country is also a part of the International Solar Alliance (ISA), which is headquartered in Gurgaon in India.
India-UAE trade stood at about USD 50 billion in 2017, making India the second largest trading partner of UAE, while UAE is India’s third largest trading partner (after China and the US). Moreover, UAE is India’s second largest export destination, accounting for over USD 31 billion for the year 2016-17.
Earlier recipients of Zayed medal or Order of Zayed includes Russian President Vladimir Putin (2007), President of China Xi Jinping (2018), Queen Elizabeth of UK (2010) and King of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (2016).