4 June 2020, NIICE Commentary 5203
Praveen Kumar Tiwari
India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) share exceptional relations which have been again exhibited in the pandemic situation. Owing to a large number of Indians residing in the UAE and with the strategic importance UAE holds, India had decided to extend assistance by offering healthcare professionals, medicines, and medical equipment to the UAE. In the time when countries are increasingly looking inwards, India has taken a high moral position by extending a helping hand to its ‘extended neighbour’. India has used this opportunity to further flex its muscle and consolidate the mutually beneficial relationship with the UAE through the use of soft power.
Significance of Bilateral Cooperation
Approximately 3.3 million Indians are living and working in the UAE, who transfer remittance to India around USD 13.8 billion annually. The outbreak of the pandemic has made both sides realize the need to maintain a stringent bilateral relationship as both require each other to meet their national interests. As India’s ambassador to the UAE, Pavan Kapoor said, “India and the UAE are showing how a strategic partnership translates into concrete cooperation on the ground in dealing with this pandemic. Helping a friend in need is the motto of cooperation between our two countries.”
India and the UAE find many things in common when it comes to celebrating cultural diversity as well as the principle of unity in diversity. The UAE has seen coming up with both churches as well as temples in recent years. There is a peaceful atmosphere in the country that has been built around the tolerance of multiple identities. The ties between India and the UAE are in a very good position since 2015 which marked the beginning of a new ‘Comprehensive and Strategic’ partnership during the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to the UAE. The pandemic has provided India with an optimum opportunity to take this relationship to new heights.
India has pushed to move beyond a product buyer-seller business relationship with the West Asian states and extended much-needed support to the UAE during the pandemic, which is a part of its long-term strategic vision in the region. Moreover, the time is ripe for India as the UAE is increasingly looking to enhance comprehensive ties with India by investing in trade, security, healthcare, and pharmaceuticals. Also, the UAE is envisaging a scenario where the US might cease to be the major security provider and, in that case,, the Sheikhdom would want New Delhi to play a major role as India has a highly advanced and well-equipped naval command.
Cooperation in the Midst of Pandemic
Both the countries have stressed on the need to maintain regular transparent flow of information and jointly explore the ways to overcome this global health crisis. The decision to send in medical professionals was hailed by the UAE as a great humanitarian help. This is important on part of India as well because according to official reports, more than 500 Indians were tested COVID-19 positive in the UAE. The first batch of 88 Indian nurses reached the UAE on May 12 to provide assistance to the country’s understaffed healthcare facilities and a second batch arrived on May 20.
India and UAE are in close coordination since the number of Coronavirus infections began to rise in the Gulf States. Since there is a sizable population of Indian expats which are stuck in the UAE, the Indian embassy in the UAE is trying to provide them all possible assistance during the lockdown measures. The UAE’s Khaleej Times reported that India and the UAE’s department of Health are working together, “to help Indians who are living in clusters, to move out if any of them is found positive, so that the spread of the disease is controlled.” Both countries are working together and complementing each other’s work in order to ensure that genuine grievances of the people stuck in both countries because of the lockdown are addressed properly.
“Vande Bharat” mission was launched by Indian government on May 7 to assist Indians stuck in various parts of the world. The UAE was among the first countries where India sent its evacuation planes to bring back Indians to their homeland. Until now, around 2000 people have already arrived back to the country. The special features of these flights were that it also carried stranded Emiratis in India, health professionals, and medical supplies. The UAE government highly esteemed this initiative of India and even the Emirati public response was appreciated which was reflected over the social media.
A significant event took place at the international level involving the UAE in the last week of May, when along with Maldives, both the countries rejected a proposal forwarded by Pakistan to form a special envoy of Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) at the United Nations against Islamophobia, where the main target was India due to its perceived sectarian violence during the Anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests and the alleged religious persecution in Jammu and Kashmir. Both the UAE are the Maldives consider the above issues as India’s internal matters, and were also the major beneficiaries of India’s health diplomacy, so this instance of international support can be appreciated as a payback to Indian initiatives.
Way Ahead
By providing support in these difficult times, India, to its benefit, has successfully projected the image of regional solidarity and showcased that India continued its time-tested and trusted partnership by helping the UAE in most desperate times. When the virus wanes and the pandemic subsides, the actions and the behavior of each state would be remembered. As this virus has pushed the world towards a major realignment of the international order and shifts in the strategic calculations of the states, India’s action of extending the helping hand to the UAE is a very welcoming move that realized the opportunity of filling the vacuum created because of the virus and didn’t allow this diplomatic opportunity go in vain.
Pragmatism and realism mark the behaviour of both states in contemporary geopolitical circumstances. Concerning the UAE, due to the pandemic and subsequent decline in the demand for oil and its prices have given a renewed impetus to their efforts of diversifying their sources of revenue and this goal has pushed them increasingly towards regional powers like India, China, Japan, and South Korea. India is projecting itself with a more mature and evolving foreign policy stance working in line with the dictum “Vasudheva Kutumbakam”, which means that the world is one big family. The UAE is already India’s third largest trading partner, and according to several trade experts, it has the potential to become the largest trading partner of India in the coming years.
