21/08/2020
India to benefit from UAE - Israel bonding..
In the middle of a pandemic, the geopolitics of the world’s most troubled region took a historic turn this week, when the UAE and Israel, under the benevolent gaze of US President Donald Trump, signed an agreement to “normalise” relations. The deal opens up new opportunities for India to play a much larger role in the regional security and stability in the Gulf, where New Delhi enjoys special relations with both Abu Dhabi and Jerusalem.
India should use this unexpected opportunity to give itself a bigger role in a region which is its strategic backyard. The first step should be to ramp up defence and security relations with UAE. Israel is already a very close defence partner. But India should restart joint exercises with UAE, and even Saudi Arabia. While some work has already happened, India should leverage its economy for a bigger opening in this region.
