Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Foreign Minister

New Delhi:(IANS)External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and the UAE’s Foreign Minister will on Thursday chair the Joint Commission Meeting on Technical and Economical Cooperation here during which steps to boost bilateral trade, investment and cooperation in various sectors will be discussed.

The UAE minister’s visit comes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the Gulf country, in the first prime ministerial visit in 34 years.

Sheikh Abdullah, who arrives on Thursday, is leading a large delegation of officials and captains of industry for the meeting. After the joint commission meeting with Sushma Swaraj, he will call on Modi. He departs on Friday.

The joint commission meeting, the 11th in a series, will discuss a variety of bilateral issues, including trade, investment and cooperation in new areas including defence production, infrastructure, security, counter-terrorism, energy security and medium and small enterprises.

Other issues to be taken up are scientific collaboration in the areas of space and renewable energy, sustainable development, environment, arid agriculture, desert ecology, urban development and advanced healthcare.

India and the UAE have historically enjoyed close and friendly relations marked by high-level visits, commercial exchanges and people-to-people contacts, said an official statement.

Geographical proximity, historical trade links, cultural affinities and growing cooperation in key areas of mutual interest, including, energy security, trade and investment, infrastructure development projects, petrochemicals, education and culture continue to strengthen and deepen this relationship, it added.

It noted that the recent visit of Modi to the UAE “redefined our bilateral relationship and elevated it to a strategic partnership”.

The forthcoming Joint Commission Meeting is expected to take the multifaceted bilateral relations to new heights, it added.