A minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Wednesday showered praises on external affairs minister S Jaishankar during a conference at a Delhi-based think tank, Observer Research Foundation (ORF).
Omar Sultan Al Olama, UAE’s Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, said he was impressed by Jaishankar’s positioning of India’s foreign policy on the global stage amid the current geopolitical conflicts.
The minister made the remarks at CyFY202, a virtual event attended by several Indian ministers and parliamentarians. The meeting, hosted in the national capital, discussed issues related to technology, security, and society.
Olama said that India and the UAE can work together to expand their global trade and investment footprint, adding commerce is very important in today’s world.
In a response to a question about how he deals with the geopolitical headwinds, Olama said, “Historically, the world was unipolar, bipolar or tripolar, where you had to choose sides. I am very impressed by your minister of foreign affairs – I see some of his speeches. One thing is very clear for both the UAE and India is that we don’t need to choose sides.”
During the event, he also discussed the India-UAE relationship and how the two countries are linked by ingrained roots. He said there are numerous areas for cooperation, with a particular emphasis on collaboration between startups in both countries.
He also mentioned the I2U2 (India-Israel-UAE-USA) Group as a great example of collaboration, and added that just because the UAE is working with India does not mean it cannot coordinate with the United States.
Over the next three days, around 150 speakers from 37 countries will participate in the CyFy2022 conference, along with Q&A sessions.
(With inputs from ANI)