The economic and energy ties between India and the UAE and the well-being of the four-million-strong Indian community came to the fore in External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s meetings with the UAE’s top leadership, including President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Jaishankar is the second Indian minister to travel to West Asia, after Oil Minister Hardeep Puri’s visit to Qatar, amid a two-week ceasefire in the Iran-US conflict to support energy security and assess the security situation in the region that is a crucial supplier of oil and gas.
On Sunday, Jaishankar met President Mohammed bin Zayed and conveyed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s message and India’s appreciation for taking care of the Indian community in the UAE “during this very difficult period.” He met with Abdullah bin Zayed, who also serves as Deputy Prime Minister, on Saturday evening and they discussed “the development of the regional situation and its repercussions,” according to a social media post.
“We had a very intense conflict in this region. India clearly has very significant interests and a very significant stake in the stability and security of this region,” Jaishankar told news agency ANI after the meetings. “I’m very happy that I had the opportunity to come here and sit down live [and] Express our concerns and…share feedback from the Indian community.”
Jaishankar said the interests of the Indian community were “first and foremost” in his discussions with the UAE leadership, although the talks also focused on other aspects of bilateral relations, such as economic and energy ties.
Both the UAE and Qatar are important energy suppliers, and the ministerial visits were an opportunity to assess the impact of the conflict in West Asia on the energy infrastructure of both countries. The UAE is India’s fifth-largest fuel exporter, accounting for nearly 6% of total crude oil imports, and the third-largest exporter of liquefied petroleum gas and petroleum products.
Qatar is India’s largest supplier of LNG (11.19 million metric tons worth $6.39 billion in 2024-25) and LPG (4.89 million metric tons worth $3.21 billion in 2024-2025).
A statement issued by the UAE Foreign Minister’s Office said that Abdullah bin Zayed and Jaishankar discussed “the repercussions of the brutal Iranian missile attacks” that targeted the UAE and many other friendly countries. The statement said, without giving details, that they also discussed developments after the announcement of a two-week ceasefire between Iran and the United States and the strategic relations between the UAE and India.
Senior Iranian and American officials held their first direct face-to-face talks in Islamabad even while Jaishankar was in the UAE, although the 21-hour negotiations ended without any progress.
