ABU DHABI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for an \u201copen and safe\u201d Strait of Hormuz during a brief visit to the United Arab Emirates on Friday, the start of a five-nation tour overshadowed by energy and supply-chain worries due to the Iran war. Modi, whose plane was guided in and out of UAE airspace by military jets, received a guard of honor and met President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan before leaving for the Netherlands. \u201cI have come to my second home,\u201d Modi, a frequent visitor to the UAE, home to 4.5 million Indians, told the president, calling the airforce escort \u201can honor\u201d.<\/p>\n
Disruptions to Gulf shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz have put oil and gas markets in a spin, raising pressure on energy importers such as India, which was forced to hike petrol and diesel prices on Friday. \u201cKeeping Hormuz free, open and safe is our highest priority, and in this matter adherence to international laws is essential,\u201d Modi said, in footage released by the Indian foreign ministry. The two sides agreed to explore increasing UAE giant ADNOC\u2019s oil storage in India to up to 30 million barrels, and storing crude at the UAE\u2019s Fujairah port as part of India\u2019s strategic reserve, an ADNOC statement said.<\/p>\n
India, the world\u2019s third-largest oil buyer, normally sources about half of its crude through the Strait of Hormuz, which has been largely blocked by Iran since the war began in late February. \u201cThe visit has given a major boost to India\u2019s energy security,\u201d foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal posted on X. Modi\u2019s trip, which will also take him to Sweden, Norway and Italy, reflects India\u2019s wider effort to diversify economic and strategic partnerships while positioning itself as a major manufacturing and technology hub.<\/p>\n
The six-day tour comes after India and the European Union sealed a free trade agreement in January, dubbed by Modi the \u201cmother of all deals\u201d. The EU has long eyed India – the world\u2019s most populous nation – as a key market. Modi\u2019s visit will \u201cdeepen India\u2019s partnership with Europe… particularly trade and investment ties in light of the recently concluded India-EU FTA\u201d, New Delhi\u2019s foreign ministry said. Modi is also attending a Nordic summit in Oslo. It will be the first visit to Norway by an Indian prime minister in 43 years, showing growing engagement with Northern Europe, commentators said.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor India, an engagement with the Nordic countries is strategically timed to position the country as a trusted economic, technological and clean energy partner in a rapidly changing global order,\u201d Anil Wadhwa, a retired Indian ambassador to Italy and Poland, told AFP. \u201cIndia stands to benefit from the diversification from China, and the recently concluded India-EU free trade agreement has already created momentum,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The Gulf region, pummeled by Iranian drone and missile attacks during the Iran war, remains India\u2019s primary source of oil and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). Modi\u2019s visit is also aimed at shoring up India\u2019s position across Gulf nations in the wake of conflict, which has fractured alliances in the region. \u201cA new international environment now prevails,\u201d K.C. Singh, former Indian ambassador to Iran and the UAE, told AFP. \u201cCracks within the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council and open Iran-UAE confrontation have altered the geopolitics,\u201d he added. \u201cThe United Arab Emirates is now openly aligning with the US and Zionist entity. Saudi Arabia, the GCC\u2019s most powerful and populous member, has moved closer to Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey while maintaining its US outreach.\u201d On Thursday, Modi met Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in New Delhi. \u00ad<\/p>\n
Arctic shipping routes<\/p>\n
In the Netherlands, discussions will include increasing their $27.8 billion in bilateral trade, as well as defense, semiconductors, water, agriculture and health. Modi heads to Sweden on Sunday, where he will address a European business leaders forum alongside EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, before travelling to Norway a day later to address an India-Nordic Summit. India, which operates an Arctic research base on Norway\u2019s Svalbard island, is also tracking what the opening of Arctic sea routes driven by climate change means for its shipping.<\/p>\n
\u201cIndia\u2019s interest in the Arctic is not merely academic; the melting of polar ice has direct consequences for the Indian monsoon and our food security,\u201d Indian lawmaker Shashi Tharoor wrote in the Indian Express newspaper. Modi\u2019s final leg will be Italy on May 19, where he will meet Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, with whom he reportedly has a close friendship. \u2014 AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ABU DHABI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for an \u201copen and safe\u201d Strait of Hormuz during a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[10654,10653,131,42,10655],"class_list":["post-12635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-hague","tag-kuwait-news","tag-kuwait-times","tag-news","tag-the-hague","tag-today"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}