Swaraj departs for UAE to hold 12th Joint Commission Meeting

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj departed for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Monday to co-chair the 12th Joint Commission Meeting (JCM) along with Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Foreign Minister of the UAE, during her official visit to the nation from December 3 to 4.

“Sustaining the momentum of interactions. EAM @SushmaSwaraj emplanes for #AbuDhabi #UnitedArabEmirates to lead the Indian delegation at the 12th India-UAE Joint Commission Meeting #JCM on Economic, Trade & Technical Cooperation. The last #JCM was held in September 2015 in New Delhi,” Raveesh Kumar, the spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) tweeted on December 3.

The EAM has a string of high-level engagements planned during her short trip, including calling on the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and inaugurating the Gandhi-Zayed Digital Museum in Abu Dhabi.

She will also hold an interactive session with the Indian diaspora during her two-day visit.
“India and the UAE enjoy strong bonds of friendship, which are founded on millennia-old cultural, religious and economic interaction between the two regions. In the recent past, with the exchange of visits at the highest level, the relationship has been elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership,” a statement issued by the MEA noted.

Both the nations are one of the largest trade partners for each other, with bilateral trade amounting to USD 50 billion, while the UAE has a 3.3 million strong Indian community. Furthermore, the UAE is the sixth-largest source of India’s oil imports.

[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]