Visionary leaderships in India and the UAE are a "blessing" for both the nations as well as the region to bring about a "positive change", Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore has said.
"Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are both visionary leaders. They are driven towards bringing about positive change," Rathore told PTI on the sidelines of the World Government Summit here.
"If you look at the entire UAE, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan is young, energetic and has a vision. This combination is a blessing for both the nations and the region as well," he added.
Rathore said the summit brought together people from diverse backgrounds including the private sector and the government and gave them the opportunity to exchange ideas, experiences and lessons.
"Since the world is becoming one global community, we need to learn from various places, modify and apply them in our own country," he said.
Rathore said Dubai is becoming like a knowledge hub and traditionally, the UAE and India have shared great relations going back decades in terms of trade.
"The kind of reception and warmth the prime minister received during his visit to Dubai (last year) has built an extremely positive environment for cooperation in areas such as information technology, national security, oil and non-oil, investment into infrastructure, exchange of knowledge, the smart cities concept that India has etc," said Rathore.
Those are the exchanges that are likely to take place as Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan begins his three-day official visit to India.
"People of Dubai, the Emiratis, are very adaptive and accommodative towards the world, they are very open and very modern. That's their strength and perhaps the reason why Dubai and the UAE have done well," he said.
On asked about his sporting links with some of the Emiratis, going back to his days as an Olympian, Rathore said he has known them personally and they are "wonderful people".
"They are very energetic, they train very hard, and are great sportsmen as well. Sheikh Ahmed Al-Maktoum was my competitor and he won the gold that time," Rathore said, referring to the 2004 Athens Olympics when he won the silver medal in Double Trap shooting.
