NEW DELHI, (Pakistan Point News - 04th Mar, 2020) A think tank in Washington with a large footprint in New Delhi has hailed recent efforts in cooperation between the UAE and India as a model for the US’ strategy for the Indo-Pacific.
"UAE-India cooperation demonstrates a new idea," the Hudson Institute’s latest report, "Strategies for the Indo-Pacific: Perceptions of the US and Like-Minded Countries," has argued.
"In 2018, India and the UAE signed an agreement allowing the UAE to set up strategic oil facilities in India. This agreement benefits both parties. India can use the stored oil in an emergency."
On the other hand, the UAE can sell this oil in the event of any delays in the movement or re-routing of tankers. "And because the UAE can sell oil from this storage, the cost of maintaining this facility is offset."
This effort helps maintain sea lanes of communications, says the report edited and produced by Dr. Satoru Nagao, Visiting Fellow at the Hudson Institute.
Based on the UAE-India model of cooperation, Dr. Nagao argues that the way forward for the US in the Indo-Pacific is to integrate security and economic efforts.
The report includes expert analysis by authors from Australia, Canada, India, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam.
In a chapter on India in the context of Indo-Pacific strategies of various nations, Dr. Aparna Pande, Director of the Initiative on the Future of India and South Asia at the Hudson Institute, wrote that "across the Indian Ocean, India has deepened relations with strategically-located countries like the UAE and Oman" as well as island nations like the Maldives, Mauritius and Seychelles.
