the two sides are undoubtedly hopeful that the visit of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi and deputy supreme commander of the armed forces of the UAE this week will propel economic and geostrategic ties to a more elevated level.

At present, India is UAE’s number one trading partner with total trade pegged at $60 billion in 2015 — a huge growth since the 1970s when India-UAE annual trade was at $180 million.

India, which is 79 per cent dependent on imports to meet its crude oil needs, is building underground storage facilities at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, and Mangalore and Padur in Karnataka to store about 5.33 million tonnes of crude oil to guard against global price shocks and supply disruptions.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke protocol as he personally received the crown prince on his arrival in New Delhi.