PM Modi To Make A Brief UAE Stopover During Europe Trip Amid US-Iran War: What's On The Agenda?

(MENAFN- Live Mint) Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to leave for a four-nation tour of Europe from May 15-20. The visit will see discussions on trade, security cooperation, and the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and West Asia.

PM Modi is also expected to make a brief stopover in the United Arab Emirates during his Europe trip, according to the reports.

PM Modi will visit Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, and Italy during the trip. The third India-Nordic Summit in Oslo on 15 May, bringing together the leaders of India, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Finland, is the main agenda of prime minister Narendra Modi's Europe trip.

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The stopover in UAE is seen as a chance for India shore up energy supplies from the UAE and to discuss the welfare of the four-million-strong diaspora in the Emirates, according to multiple media reports. The stopover can be either at the start or towards the end of his Europe itinerary, according to media reports.

During the crisis arising due to US-Iran war and its impact on movement of vessels through Strait of Hormuz, India has made an outreach to key West Asian suppliers of energy. The UAE is India's fifth largest source for fuel, accounting for almost 6 per cent of total crude imports, and the third largest source of LPG and petroleum products.

External affairs minister S Jaishankar recently travelled to the UAE while petroleum minister Hardeep Puri was in Qatar. National Security Adviser Ajit Doval also visited Saudi Arabia to review the regional situation and bolster India's energy security.

PM Modi's visit to the Emirates comes months after President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan visited India for two-three hours in January.

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Sheikh Nahyan's visit to India had come amid the volatile situation in the Middle-East arising out of a sharp decline in Iran-US ties, simmering tensions between Saudi Arabia and the UAE over Yemen and the unsettling political scenario in Gaza.

Amid US-Iran war

This time again, the UAE is in the thick of the ongoing US-Iran war and has witnessed more than 2,500 missile and drone attacks, more than what Israel faced from Tehran. Also, earlier this week, UAE walked out of the OPEC and OPEC+ over differences with both Iran and Saudi Arabia.

In the UAE stopover, the prime minister is expected to review bilateral relations during a meeting with President Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan. PM Modi is also scheduled to discuss the upcoming Brics Summit to be hosted by India in September. The UAE is among the countries that joined Brics when it was expanded in 2024.

In July 2023, PM Modi made a similar brief visit to the UAE after being the guest of honour at France's Bastille Day parade.

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India-Nordic Summit is expected to see discussions on green growth, sustainable development, maritime cooperation (Sagarmala project), AI governance, and semiconductor supply chains.

The summit is also expected to address the ongoing impacts of the Russia-Ukraine war on Nordic security and West Asian volatility on energy supplies.

The India-Nordic Summit was supposed to take place in mid-May 2025, but it was cancelled after the India-Pakistan military confrontation during Operation Sindoor between May 7 and 10. Government of India and Nordic countries - which includes Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland - have been discussing scheduling Modi's visit since early this year.

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