UAE foreign minister calls up Jaishankar; discusses historic peace deal with Israel

India on Friday welcomed the "full normalisation" of ties between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel under a historic peace deal, and said it has consistently supported peace, stability and development in West Asia.

India on Friday welcomed the "full normalisation" of ties between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel under a historic peace deal, and said it has consistently supported peace, stability and development in West Asia. A day after his country finalised the peace deal with Israel, Foreign Minister of the UAF Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan made a phone call to his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar and discussed the peace initiative. "India has consistently supported peace, stability and development in West Asia, which is its extended neighbourhood. In that context, we welcome the full normalisation of ties between UAE and Israel," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said at an online media briefing. He said both the UAE and Israel are key strategic partners of India. The UAE and Israel finalised the deal with an aim to normalise their bilateral relationship, seen as a major development in moving ahead with peace initiatives in West Asia.

Under the deal, Israel agreed to halt plans to annex parts of the West Bank which the Palestinians want as part of an independent state. Almost all the Arab nations do not recognise Israel and and they have no diplomatic ties with it.

"India continues its traditional support for the Palestinian cause. We hope to see early resumption of direct negotiations to find an acceptable two-state solution," said Srivastava. He said Jaishankar received a call this afternoon from the UAE foreign minister on the announcement of the full normalisation of relations between UAE and Israel. "Deeply appreciate the call today from FM HH @ABZayed of UAE. Discussed the full normalisation of relations between UAE and Israel announced yesterday," Jaishankar tweeted. Jaishankar also held telephonic talks with Foreign Affairs Minister of Nigeria Geoffrey Onyeama.

"Just concluded a phone call with FM @GeoffreyOnyeama of Nigeria. Good discussion on the multilateral challenges facing the world. Also spoke of our development partnership. Look forward to continuing the conversation," the external affairs minister tweeted.

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