Emphasising that India and the UAE share a "close bond", Indian Ambassador to UAE Navdeep Suri on Wednesday stressed on the symbiotic strategic partnership between the two countries. Suri was speaking at the inaugural session of the WION Global Summit 2019 in Dubai.

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"Till 1967, Indian rupee was a legal tender in UAE. So to say that the relationship between the two countries is just an old one is just a cliché," he said.

"Last year the bilateral trade between the two countries reached at a whopping $52 billion. That makes India UAE's largest trading partner. The UAE is the third largest trading partner of India after China and the US," he said.

"For India, the UAE is the second largest export market after the US," he said.

The Indian Ambassador to UAE said as many as 155 flights, in a day, are connecting to 17 different Indian cities and there is a demand for more.

"The remarkable sight of seeing Mahatma Gandhi on Burj Khalifa on October 2, last year, as we launched Gandhi at 150 celebrations underlined the special relationship between the two countries. On January 26 this year, an equally remarkable sight of 7 iconic buildings in Abu Dhabi being lit up with Tricolour," he said.

The first ever Hindu temple is coming up here, he said.

Calling UAE a "strategic partner" of India, Suri said it is looking at India as major investment destination.

"I cannot think of one major Middle East country that does not have an office in Dubai," he said, adding "with 3.3 million Indians, it has the largest concentration of Indians outside India."

Booming Trade

Navdeep Suri said, last year the bilateral trade between the two countries reached at a whopping $52 billion. “That makes India UAE’s largest trading partner. The UAE is the third largest trading partner of India after China & the US,” he said.