Why in News?

• The 12th session of the India-UAE Joint Commission Meeting (JCM) for Economic and Technical Cooperation was held on December 3-4, 2018 in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates.
• Also in the meet discussions to step up bilateral cooperation in areas such as security, defence, counter-terrorism, investments, space, trade and energy taken place

Key Highlights:

• During the India-UAE JCM, India and the United Arab Emirates signed two agreements, one pact on currency swap and an MoU for development cooperation in Africa.
• The agreement on currency swap between the countries will allow trading in their own currency and payments to import and export trade at a pre-determined exchange rate without bringing in a third benchmark currency like the US dollars.
• The second Memorandum of Understanding would enable both the nations to undertake development projects in Africa.
• The leaders also identified several new areas of cooperation and following the conclusion of the JCM, the leaders signed and adopted the agreed minutes of the meeting.

India-UAE Relations:

• With bilateral trade amounting to almost USD 50 billion, India and UAE are one of the largest trade partners for each other and have made robust investments bilaterally.
• The UAE is the sixth-largest source of Indian oil imports and hosts a 3.3 million-strong Indian community, which amounts to the largest number of Indians outside India.
• Indians also make up the largest ethnic group in the UAE making up roughly 27 per cent of the total UAE`s residents.
• During the Indian PM Narendra Modi’s visit to the UAE in February 2018, both sides set an ambitious target of US$100 billion in bilateral trade by the year 2020.