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Video: ADNOC marks Modi's inauguration as Prime Minister of India

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Video: ADNOC marks Modis inauguration as Prime Minister of India

The ADNOC building in Abu Dhabi showcased the close bonds of friendship and cooperation between India and UAE.

Published: Fri 31 May 2019, 9:55 PM

  • By
  • Wam

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has marked the inauguration of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister of India.
To mark the occasion, the Indian and UAE flags and a video of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and Narendra Modi were displayed on the facade of the ADNOC building in Abu Dhabi, symbolising the close bonds of friendship and cooperation that exist between both nations.
Also read: Narendra Modi takes oath as India's prime minister
India's energy security is a top priority for the UAE with ADNOC being the only foreign oil and gas company, to date, to invest in India's strategic petroleum reserves programme. ADNOC is also a stakeholder in one of India's largest refinery and petrochemical complexes, which will be constructed at Ratnagiri in Maharashtra.

Strategic energy co-operation between the UAE and India was bolstered in March 2019, when an Indian consortium of two companies was awarded the exploration rights for an onshore block in Abu Dhabi's debut competitive block bid round. In addition, an Indian consortium of three companies was awarded a 10 percent participating interest in Abu Dhabi's offshore Lower Zakum concession in February 2018.
Looking at the decorations on the ADNOC building in Abu Dhabi, Navdeep Singh Suri, the Indian Ambassador to the UAE, told WAM: 
"Since the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to UAE in August 2015, we have seen a real transformation in our bilateral ties. The close friendship that has blossomed over the last four years between our Prime Minister and the Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed is well-known. The whole world can see it today in this unique celebration of the re-election of the Prime Minister for a fresh five year term. The ADNOC tower behind us is beautifully lit up and adorned with the flags of India and UAE and visuals of the two leaders.

But beyond the symbolism of these images is also the clear direction that the Prime Minister and the Crown Prince have provided to diplomats like us to make the India-UAE Comprehensive Strategic Partnership a truly vibrant example of what we can achieve when we work together. We are seeing an unprecedented impact in areas such as trade and investment flows; food and energy security; manpower and skills; literature and culture; defense, space and security cooperation and, of course, our growing people to people connections.

Since we are standing before the iconic ADNOC tower, let me just take the example of the energy sector. Over the last two years, we have seen it evolve from a simple buyer-seller relationship to a multi-faceted partnership that has led to our first strategic petroleum reserve, our first oil concessions in the Gulf and the agreement to work together in our West coast mega-refinery project.

If I look at just the first few months of this year, we witnessed the remarkable participation of our Minister for External Affairs as Guest of Honour at the OIC Foreign Ministers' meeting hosted by Abu Dhabi; announcement of the prestigious Sheikh Zayed award to to our Prime Minister; the foundation stone of the first Hindu temple in Abu Dhabi, India participating as Guest of Honour at Abu Dhabi Book Fair, launch of Gandhi-Zayed Digital Museum and so much more.

So, as the Prime Minister starts his second term in office, there is tremendous sense of optimism for India-UAE ties. We now have the opportunity to build upon the strong platform that we have created over the last four years, and to make the coming period a truly Golden Era in our relationship."



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