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UAE’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed to be chief guest at 2017 Republic Day celebrations; Arab soldiers to march in parade

New Delhi: Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan will be the Chief Guest at the 2017 Republic Day parade.

In a first, Arab soldiers will be marching in New Delhi during the parade.

A report in The Times of India said the visiting dignitary will bring a marching band from the UAE’s defence forces at the parade on Republic Day.

Notably, the French marching band had joined the parade in 2016 in honour of Francois Hollande, when he was the chief guest.

The visit of Al Nahyan, who is also the Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE armed forces, is expected to give a boost to bilateral ties in the key areas of trade and security.

During Modi’s visit in August last year, the two countries had condemned efforts, including by states, to use religion to justify, support and sponsor terrorism against other countries, or to use terrorism as an instrument of state policy.

They had also decided to strengthen their cooperation in the area of counter-terrorism.

Trade is another important component of the bilateral ties as UAE is India’s third largest trading partner after China and the United States. Bilateral trade between UAE and India is around USD 60 billion.

There are also more than 2.6 million Indians live in the UAE and their annual remittance is estimated to be around USD 14 billion.

Source: Zee News