PM Modi's Visit To UAE For Abu Dhabi's First Hindu Temple Opening: All You Need To Know

The schedule: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit UAE on 13-14 February. He will hold bilateral meetings with President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to discuss strategic partnership between the two countries.

The PM will also meet Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who serves as the Vice President, Prime Minister and Defence Minister of the UAE.

On 14 February, Modi will participate in the World Government Summit 2024 in Dubai as Guest of Honour to deliver a keynote address and inaugurate UAE's first Hindu temple.

The temple: The temple is built on a 27-acre site in Abu Mureikhah, near Al Rahba off the Dubai-Abu Dhabi Sheikh Zayed Highway and is known as Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) Mandir.

The temple is made of marble and pink sandstone, a lot of which were transported from northern Rajasthan. Marble carvings using more than 25,000 pieces of stone have been crafted against a sandstone backdrop.

There are two domes, seven Shikhars (spires) that signify UAE’s seven emirates, 12 Samrans (dome-like structures) and 402 pillars. Each Shikhar has carvings depicting stories from Hindu epics.

What UAE said: UAE's ambassador to India views PM Modi's visit to inaugrate the temple "as a special occasion that aligns with the values of tolerance and acceptance that guide the bilateral ties."

Ambassador Abdulnasser Alshaali emphasised a strategic partnership betwen the two countries in the field of defence, energy, space, and IT and acknowledged growthin economic relationship.

“The proof of this is borne out by the fact that the UAE is India’s fourth-largest investor, third-largest trading partner, and the second-largest export destinatio," he was qouted as saying by The Indian Express.

Background: This will be PM Modi's third visit in the last eight months and the seventh since 2015. It comes at a time when the two countries had a bilateral trade of about US$ 85 billion in 2022-23.

Earlier, it was reported that the UAE is contemplating a substantial investment of up to $50 billion in India and the announcement of this could be made during Modi's visit.