The Prime Minister of India – Narendra Modi has been conferred with the United Arab Emirates (UAE’s) highest civilian award, ‘Zayed Medal’ for boosting the bilateral ties between the 2 countries.
The President of the UAE – Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan conferred Modi with the award, which is only awarded to Kings, Presidents and Heads of States.
Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan tweeted, “We have historical and comprehensive strategic ties with India, reinforced by the pivotal role of my dear friend, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who gave these relations a big boost. In appreciation of his efforts, the UAE President grants him the Zayed Medal.”
He further added, “By granting our dear friend the Indian Prime Minister the Zayed Medal, we express our appreciation for his role and efforts in developing friendly relations and extending bridges of cooperation between the UAE and the Republic of India in various fields.”
Thanking the Crown Prince, Modi said, “I would like to thank the government of UAE and people of UAE for honouring me with the Zayed medal. This is not an award given to Modi but to the Indian people.”
Congratulating the Prime Minister of India, The Minister of external Affairs, India – Sushma Swaraj said, “I am extremely happy to welcome the announcement of Order of Zayed for a great son of India Prime Minister Narendra Modi by His Highness Mohamed Bin Zayed. On behalf of the people of India, I express our deep sense of gratitude to His Highness the President, His Highness the Crown Prince of UAE for this great honour. With this, you have honoured India and the people of India.”
For the records, Modi visited the UAE for the 2nd as Prime Minister in February 2018 where he held detailed discussions on improving ties between India and the UAE. Post this, both the countries signed 5 agreements related to energy sector, railways, manpower and financial services. The Prime Minister’s first visit to the UAE was in August 2015. In total, Modi has visited 10 West Asian countries since 2014, which is more than his combined trips of his 4 predecessors
Separately, in February 2019, the Crown Prince had spoken to Narendra Modi and the Prime Minister of Pakistan – Imran Khan to de-escalate the rising tensions following the heinous Pulwama terror attack carried out by Jaish-e- Mohammad (JeM), which killed more than 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel in India.
