India, UAE sign currency swap deal.

The two countries to also step up cooperation in areas such as trade, security and defence.

India and the UAE on Tuesday signed two agreements, including one on currency swap, as external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj held exhaustive discussions with her counterpart Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan to step up cooperation in areas such as trade, security and defence.

Swaraj, who arrived in Dubai on Monday on a two-day visit, was received by the foreign minister of the UAE ahead of the UAE-India Joint Commission meeting.

This is the 12th session of the India-UAE Joint Commission Meeting for Economic and Technical Cooperation.

Currency Swap is a pact between two countries that allows trading in their own currencies and payments to import and export trade at a pre-determined exchange rate, without bringing in a third benchmark currency like the US dollar.

The second agreement will enable both sides to undertake development projects in Africa.

With nearly $50 billion bilateral trade, the two countries are one of the largest trade partners for each other and have made robust investments bilaterally. The UAE is the sixth-largest source of Indian oil imports and hosts a 3.3 million-strong Indian community.(Source:Livemint)