UAE and India strengthen ties with 8 new cooperation agreements

The UAE and India signed eight Memorandums of Understanding on Thursday across a broad range of sectors including infrastructure, healthcare, higher education, logistics and maritime services. (DXB Media Office)
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The UAE and India signed eight Memorandums of Understanding on Thursday across a broad range of sectors including infrastructure, healthcare, higher education, logistics and maritime services. (DXB Media Office)
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Updated 10 April 2025
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UAE and India strengthen ties with 8 new cooperation agreements

UAE and India strengthen ties with 8 new cooperation agreements

MUMBAI: The UAE and India signed eight Memorandums of Understanding on Thursday across a broad range of sectors including infrastructure, healthcare, higher education, logistics and maritime services.

Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, Dubai’s crown prince and UAE defense minister, and Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal witnessed the signing at an event organized by Dubai Chambers in Mumbai.

Sheikh Hamdan, who is on his first official visit to India, said the two nations were “bound by a deep-rooted friendship and a shared dedication to shaping the future through innovation, opportunity, and sustainable growth.”

He added they “continue to build on a strong foundation of trust and collaboration,” guided by the vision of UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India.

“These MoUs broaden and deepen our strategic partnership in line with our mutual commitment to creating resilient economies, empowering communities, and advancing knowledge, technology and human development. Together, we are advancing a model of international cooperation that delivers real impact and long-term benefits for the people of our two countries,” said Sheikh Hamdan.

Dubai Chambers signed three MoUs with leading Indian business bodies — the Confederation of Indian Industry, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and the Indian Merchants’ Chamber — to support mutual market expansion, facilitate networking and promote participation in trade missions and exhibitions.

The agreements aim to boost information-sharing and enhance bilateral trade.

DP World signed two MoUs — one with Rail India Technical and Economic Service to develop advanced, tech-enabled supply chains and multimodal logistics infrastructure through the UAE-India Virtual Trade Corridor, and another between Drydocks World and Cochin Shipyard to jointly develop ship repair clusters in Kochi and Vadinar.

In the education sector, Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism signed an MoU with the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad to establish a new campus in Dubai. The facility will initially open in Dubai International Academic City, with plans for a permanent campus by 2029.

Healthcare collaboration was also a major focus. Dubai Health and key business figures from both countries signed an MoU to establish the UAE-India Friendship Hospital in Dubai, a philanthropic project offering inclusive healthcare services.

Additionally, Dubai Medical University and the All India Institute of Medical Science signed a cooperation agreement to facilitate joint research, academic exchange and collaboration in digital health and artificial intelligence applications in medicine.

Sheikh Hamdan said the continued growth in trade, investment and cooperation between the UAE and India highlighted the “strategic depth of the relationship” and the “vast potential” of their collaboration.

He added: “We look forward to accelerating progress in sectors that matter most for our collective future, building on the strong momentum we have achieved through frameworks like the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement and the Bilateral Investment Treaty.”


Flights to and from Yemen’s Sanaa airport suspended following Israeli attack, director says

Flights to and from Yemen’s Sanaa airport suspended following Israeli attack, director says
Updated 27 sec ago
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Flights to and from Yemen’s Sanaa airport suspended following Israeli attack, director says

Flights to and from Yemen’s Sanaa airport suspended following Israeli attack, director says

 All flights to and from Yemen’s Sanaa International Airport have been suspended until further notice due to extensive damage following Israeli strike, the airport’s general director said on Wednesday in a post on X.
The Israeli military carried out an airstrike on Yemen’s main airport in Sanaa on Tuesday, its second attack in two days on Iran-aligned Houthis after a surge in tensions between the group and Israel. 


Gaza rescuers say 31 killed in Israeli strikes on school sheltering displaced

Gaza rescuers say 31 killed in Israeli strikes on school sheltering displaced
Updated 32 min 25 sec ago
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Gaza rescuers say 31 killed in Israeli strikes on school sheltering displaced

Gaza rescuers say 31 killed in Israeli strikes on school sheltering displaced

GAZA CITY: Gaza’s civil defense agency said Wednesday that Israeli strikes on a school sheltering displaced people in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory killed 31 people and wounded dozens, with Israel saying it had targeted Hamas militants.
Gaza civil defense media officer Ahmad Radwan told AFP that a total of 31 people were killed and dozens more wounded in Israeli strikes “on a school sheltering displaced persons” in the Bureij refugee camp in the center of the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military meanwhile said in a statement that its forces had struck a “Hamas command and control center in the central Gaza Strip” which was used “to store weapons.”
The strikes came as Israel drew international condemnation on Tuesday over its plans for an expanded Gaza offensive, as the country’s far-right finance minister called for the Palestinian territory to be “destroyed.”
Nearly all of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once during the war, sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
On Tuesday, Hamas dismissed as pointless ceasefire talks with Israel, accusing it of waging a “hunger war” on Gaza.
Israel’s military resumed its offensive on the Gaza Strip in March, ending a two-month truce that saw a surge in aid into the territory and the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.


Gaza aid dries up as Israeli blockade enters a third month

Gaza aid dries up as Israeli blockade enters a third month
Updated 07 May 2025
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Gaza aid dries up as Israeli blockade enters a third month

Gaza aid dries up as Israeli blockade enters a third month
  • The current blockade has lasted longer than any previous Israeli halt in aid to Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war began

JERUSALEM: Israel has blockaded all entrances to the Gaza Strip since March.
While pummeling the strip with airstrikes, it has banned any food, water, shelter or medication from being trucked into the Palestinian territory, where the UN says the vast majority of the population is reliant on humanitarian aid to survive. Israel says the blockade aims to pressure Hamas to release the hostages it still holds. Of the 59 captives remaining in Gaza, 21 are believed to still be alive, US President Donald Trump said Tuesday, revealing that three had died.
Here’s a look at the humanitarian crisis spiraling in Gaza, through key statistics and charts:
The current blockade has lasted longer than any previous Israeli halt in aid to Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war began. Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 and Israel froze aid to Gaza for two weeks.
Now, Gaza is entering its third month without supplies. Thousands of trucks queue along the border of the territory, waiting to be let in. Community kitchens are closing down and bakeries are running out of fuel. Families spend hours waiting in line for small portions of rice.
In their desperation, Palestinians have begun scavenging warehouses and stores for anything left. Aid groups report a rise in looting incidents over the last week. At least some have been looted by armed groups.
Meanwhile, Israel is moving forward with plans to seize all of Gaza and to stay in the Palestinian territory for an unspecified amount of time. It says it will expand operations there, defying calls for an immediate renewal of a ceasefire from families whose relatives are still held hostage in Gaza.
Israel’s offensive has displaced more than 90 percent of Gaza’s population and, Palestinian health officials say, killed more than 52,000 people, many of them women and children. Palestinian officials do not distinguish between combatants and civilians in their count.


UAE mediates deal for release of further 410 Russian and Ukrainian prisoners of war

UAE mediates deal for release of further 410 Russian and Ukrainian prisoners of war
Updated 06 May 2025
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UAE mediates deal for release of further 410 Russian and Ukrainian prisoners of war

UAE mediates deal for release of further 410 Russian and Ukrainian prisoners of war
  • It is the 15th in a series of UAE-mediated prisoner-swap agreements that have resulted in the release of 4,181 captives in total

LONDON: The UAE has mediated the 15th in a series of agreements between Russia and Ukraine for the release of prisoners of war, as part of its ongoing diplomatic efforts to help resolve the conflict.

Under the latest prisoner-swap deal, 205 Ukrainians and 205 Russians were freed on Tuesday, the Emirates News Agency reported. The Emirati Ministry of Foreign Affairs said a total of 4,181 Russian and Ukrainian captives have now been released as a result of its mediation efforts, the continuing success of which reflects the level of trust Kyiv and Moscow have in the UAE.

The UAE remains determined to find a peaceful resolution to the war in Ukraine, which began in February 2022, and to help ease the humanitarian suffering it has caused, the ministry added.


Lebanon says one killed in Israeli strike on south

Lebanon says one killed in Israeli strike on south
Updated 06 May 2025
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Lebanon says one killed in Israeli strike on south

Lebanon says one killed in Israeli strike on south
  • The ministry said in a statement that the “Israeli enemy” strike on Kfar Rumman killed one person and wounded three others
  • Israel has continued to launch regular strikes in Lebanon despite the November 27 truce

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli strike Tuesday on a car in the country’s south killed one person, the latest attack despite a fragile ceasefire between Hezbollah militants and Israel.
The ministry said in a statement that the “Israeli enemy” strike on Kfar Rumman killed one person and wounded three others.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the car was hit with a “guided missile” on the road linking the town of Kfar Rumman with the nearby city of Nabatieh.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Israel has continued to launch regular strikes in Lebanon despite the November 27 truce which sought to halt more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah including two months of all-out war, with a heavy Israeli bombing campaign and ground incursion.
Under the deal, Hezbollah was to pull its fighters north of Lebanon’s Litani River, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure to its south.
Israel was to withdraw all its forces from south Lebanon, but it has kept troops in five positions that it deems “strategic.”
A Lebanese security source told AFP that Hezbollah had withdrawn fighters from south of the Litani and dismantled most of its military infrastructure in that area.
Lebanon says it has respected its commitments and has called on the international community to pressure Israel to end its attacks and withdraw from the five border positions.