Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday joined US President Joe Biden, Israeli PM Yair Lapid and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan at the first virtual summit of the four-nation grouping ‘I2U2’.
In his opening address, Modi said that I2U2 has set a positive agenda from its very first summit today and has “identified joint projects in many areas, and also made a roadmap to move forward in them”. He said that by mobilising “our mutual strength, capital, expertise and markets, we can speed up our agenda and make important contributions to the global economy”.
The prime minister further said that amid increasing global uncertainty, “our cooperative framework is also a good model for practical cooperation”.
“I am confident that with I2U2, we will make a significant contribution toward energy security, food security and economic growth globally,” Modi said.
The PM said that under the I2U2 framework, “we’ve agreed on increasing the joint investment in six important areas of water, energy, transport, space, health and food security. It is clear that the vision and agenda of I2U2 are progressive and practical”.
Prior to PM Modi’s address, Biden, Lapid and Zayed Al Nahyan also made their opening remarks.
Biden in his address hailed India as “a major food producer in the world” and also pointed to the two projects that the I2U2 grouping has announced in India.
He also added, “The challenges we face today include accelerating climate crisis or growing food insecurity…volatile energy markets made worse by Russia’s brutal and unprovoked attack against Ukraine…”
The grouping is known as ‘I2U2’ with ‘I’ standing for India and Israel and ‘U’ for the US and the UAE. The grouping was conceptualised during the meeting of the foreign ministers of the four countries held on October 18 last year. India’s bilateral strategic ties with each of the three countries are on an upswing in the last few years.
(With PTI inputs)
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