UAE President holds talks with Indian PM to agree on settling trade in local currencies

SMA NEWS – DELHI
Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi on Saturday held talks with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to further deepen the multifaceted bilateral ties. Energy, food security, and defence are expected to be the focus areas of Modi’s visit to the UAE during which the two countries will review the progress in bilateral relations after they inked a landmark trade agreement last year.
PM Modi holds talks with UAE President; both nations agree to settle trade in local currencies
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday hailed India’s growing business ties with UAE and said that the two nations have agreed to settle trade in local currencies.
Modi made these remarks after holding comprehensive talks with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi to further deepen the multi-faceted bilateral ties.
The Indian Prime Minister said that the agreement to use local currency will boost bilateral trade and investments.
He also noted that India-UAE trade has witnessed a 20 per cent increase since the signing of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement last year.
Modi said the agreement signed on Saturday for trade settlement in the currencies of the two countries shows the strong economic cooperation and mutual trust between the two nations.
The two memorandum of understandings signed between India and UAE will facilitate “seamless cross border transactions and payments, and foster greater economic cooperation between the two countries,” the Reserve Bank of India said in a statement on Saturday.
The pacts will help the countries build a framework for rupee-dirham transactions, along with interlinking payment and messaging systems, as well as their respective card switches, RuPay and UAESWITCH, allowing “mutual acceptance of domestic cards and processing of card transactions,” the central bank said.
The moves are closely entwined with PM Modi’s aspirations to take the rupee global as India positions itself as an alternative to China in manufacturing.