Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to UAE in January postponed amid Omicron concerns

New Delhi, Dec 29: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's proposed visit to the UAE and Kuwait has been postponed as per a report on ANI. His trip was scheduled to commence on January 6.

The Prime Minister's trip has been postponed due to rising Omicron cases and he might possibly visit the countries in February, South Block sources informed The Hindustan Times.

The Omicron variant of Covid-19 has spread across the globe and has become a dominant virus in the US. In India, the cases of the new variant have seen a rise although the situation is still in the control.

On Monday, the UAE registered 1,732 fresh Covid-19 cases with one death with the active caseload of 10,186.

Earlier, it was reported that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would take his first abroad trip in 2022 to the UAE and would meet the top leadership of the country. This was expected to come at a time when two nations are looking at celebrating 50 years of their diplomatic ties.

Modi was expected to visit the ongoing Dubai Expo during the visit.

The ties between the two countries witnessed a major upswing following Modi's visit to the UAE in 2015 as it marked the beginning of a new phase in partnership.

It was during this visit that the bilateral relations were upgraded to a 'Comprehensive Strategic Partnership'. Prime Minister Modi visited UAE again in February 2018 for the 6th World Government Summit in Dubai, where India was the guest of honour. He visited the UAE again in August 2019 to receive the UAE's highest civilian award, 'the Order of Zayed'. The UAE is home to over 3.3 million Indians who have been playing a key role in overall cultural and people-to-people ties between the two sides.

Both India and the UAE have been holding talks to firm up a comprehensive free trade agreement to further boost economic ties and there is a possibility of forward movement on it during the visit.

In reflection of their growing strategic ties, India and the UAE recently became part of a new four-nation grouping that is expected to be focusing on issues relating to trade and investment. The other two members are the US and Israel. PTI