Jaishankar meets UAE's Abdullah bin Zayed in Abu Dhabi as Gulf calls for joint defence

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has held talks in Abu Dhabi with Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, on a visit that runs until Friday and takes in the second Raisina Middle East forum.

Jaishankar described the meeting as “warm and productive”, saying the two discussed bilateral and global issues under the countries’ Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. He was welcomed on arrival by Reem Al Hashimy, the UAE’s Minister of State for International Cooperation, and also met Georgian Foreign Minister Maka Botchorishvili on Wednesday on the sidelines of the visit.

Sharing the stage with Abdullah bin Zayed at the forum’s session, titled “The World Ahead: Power, Purpose & Possibility”, Jaishankar said it was “important to recognise the increasing pace of change in the global order”. Countries were exploring new partnerships as they responded to shocks in their own way, he said, and reform of multilateralism had become urgent, with smaller groupings able to help. “The India-UAE partnership of the last decade is a great example,” he said of ties that had adapted to a changing world.

The trip comes as the Gulf reels from a run of Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia. The strike on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport on 10 October killed 13 people, among them an Indian national. Of 11 Indians injured, eight remain under medical care and four are in intensive care, according to the MEA, which has called the attacks “totally unacceptable”.

Anwar Gargash, adviser to the UAE President, has called for reviving joint Gulf action on security and defence. “Our security is indivisible,” he wrote.