Which of the following statements with regard to the outcomes of the talks between the Prime Minister of India and the President of UAE held in February, 2024 is/are correct? 1. Both countries signed an agreement on inter-linking of domestic debit/credit cards 2. An MoU was signed on cooperation in digital infrastructure projects 3. Both countries agreed that a Bilateral Investment Treaty shall be signed in the next meeting at the ministerial level Select the answer using the code given below:
- (a)1 and 2 only
- (b)2 only
- (c)1 and 3 only
- (d)1, 2 and 3
Correct — A, 1 and 2 only. The Prime Minister of India was in Abu Dhabi on 13 and 14 February 2024, and the documents signed with the President of the UAE on that visit included an agreement on interlinking the two countries' domestic debit and credit card systems, which pairs India's RuPay with the UAE's JAYWAN, and an agreement on cooperation in digital infrastructure projects. Statement 3 fails because it postpones something that had already happened: the India-UAE Bilateral Investment Treaty was signed during that same visit, not deferred to a later ministerial meeting. The visit also produced an intergovernmental framework agreement on the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, an agreement linking the instant payment platforms UPI and AANI, and understandings on electrical interconnection, archives, and heritage and museums.
- (b)2 only — It drops the card interlinking agreement, which was one of the concrete deliverables of the visit and the reason JAYWAN is built on the RuPay technology stack.
- (c)1 and 3 only — It carries the false statement about the investment treaty being deferred. The treaty was signed on 13 February 2024 and later entered into force.
- (d)1, 2 and 3 — The first two statements hold but the third does not, so taking all three is wrong on the treaty.
India and the UAE have moved from an energy and remittance relationship to a broader economic partnership. The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement of February 2022 cut tariffs on the great majority of traded goods. Payments came next: RuPay acceptance in the UAE, the linking of UPI with the UAE's AANI instant payment platform, and the UAE's own domestic card, JAYWAN, built on RuPay's technology. The Bilateral Investment Treaty of February 2024 replaced the older bilateral investment promotion agreement that had lapsed.
Statements about diplomatic visits usually fail in one of two ways — they attribute a document to the wrong meeting, or they describe something as agreed for the future when it was actually concluded. Statement 3 is the second kind, and the giveaway is its shape: a summit that produces eight signed documents is unlikely to have pushed its headline investment treaty to a later ministerial meeting. Anchoring the year helps too, since the payments and investment agreements cluster in the 2022 to 2024 stretch.
- The Prime Minister of India visited the UAE on 13 and 14 February 2024 and addressed the World Governments Summit.
- An agreement on interlinking domestic debit and credit cards, pairing RuPay with JAYWAN, was signed on that visit.
- An agreement on cooperation in digital infrastructure projects was among the documents signed.
- The India-UAE Bilateral Investment Treaty was signed on 13 February 2024.
- The India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement had come into force in May 2022.
One statement postpones a document that had already been signed, which is the error the item is built on.
- Assuming an investment treaty must follow rather than accompany a leaders' visit.
- Confusing the 2022 trade agreement with the 2024 investment treaty.
- Mixing the card interlinking agreement with the separate UPI and AANI payment platform agreement.
A current-affairs item on a single visit, where the false statement defers a document that was in fact concluded at that visit.
Which of the following statements is/are correct? 1. The 15th ASEAN-India Summit was held virtually in March 2022. 2. European Union is India’s largest regional trading partner. Select the correct answer using the code given below.
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 only
- (c) Both 1 and 2
- (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer(b) 2 only
The same testing style applied to India's economic diplomacy — one statement about a summit and one about a trading relationship, with the error planted in the summit detail.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement came into force in
- (a)May 2020
- (b)May 2022
- (c)February 2024
- (d)August 2024
Answer(b) May 2022 — it was signed in February 2022 and took effect that May.
- practice — not a real PYQ
India's UPI was linked with which instant payment platform of the UAE?
- (a)AANI
- (b)JAYWAN
- (c)FAWRI
- (d)MASTERPAY
Answer(a) AANI — JAYWAN is the UAE's domestic card, a separate arrangement.