DUBAI:
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday arrived here on a three-day
visit to the Gulf country as part of the ongoing high-level interactions between
India and the UAE.
Mukherjee,
who arrived here from South Africa, was received by the Indian ambassador to the
UAE Talmiz Ahmed, Consul-General in Dubai Venu Rajamony and other officials.
The minister will meet UAE
President Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan, Foreign Minister Shaikh Abdullah
bin Zayed and the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan
in the capital on Monday.
"The
visit of the external affairs minister to the UAE is part of the ongoing
dialogue between the two countries," the Indian ambassador said, adding the
economic relations between the two states is growing fast with the two countries
deciding to step up two-way trade.
Though no agreements were
expected to be signed during the visit, the talks were likely to focus on
political and economic relations between the two states.
In the past year, there has
been a spate of high-level visits, beginning with the visit of the UAE
Vice-President and Prime Minister and ruler of Dubai Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid
al Maktoum in March 2007 to New Delhi, followed by a visit by the UAE Foreign
Minister Al Nahyan in June.
Mukherjee will address a
gathering at the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research in Abu
Dhabi, on "Indian Foreign Policy and India-Gulf relations- Meeting and
Challenges of the 21st century" this evening.
He will also meet the Indian
and Emirati businessmen at a dinner hosted at Dubai World Trade Centre Club on
Tuesday.