The United Arab Emirates (UAE) can play a vital role in achieving Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of making India a USD 5 trillion economy by 2025, UAE Ambassador to India Ahmed Albanna said.
Participating in the inaugural session of Himachal Rising Global Investors' Meet at Dharamshala, Albanna said, "The UAE is the third-largest business partner of India after the USA and China."
The bilateral relations between India and the UAE have strengthened after the first visit of Modi to the UAE in August 2015, he noted.
Modi's subsequent two visits to the UAE in February 2018 and August 2019 and, visits of Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to India in February 2016 and January 2017 as the chief guest on the Republic Day celebration had made the bilateral relations more cordial, he added.
The trade between the two countries has reached 60 billion dollars in 2018-19 from a mere 185 million dollars in 1980, he added. Three million Indians are living in the UAE, he mentioned.