Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan with Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of their meeting at the Presidential Airport in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. (Agence France-Presse)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today visited Masdar City - a zero carbon city - and will now meet a business delegation in Abu Dhabi as part of his UAE visit, the first by an Indian PM in 34 years.
After lunch with the Ruler of Abu Dhabi, Mr Modi will leave for Dubai where he will address the Indian diaspora at a cricket stadium. 50,000 people have registered for the event, whereas the capacity of the stadium is 40,000.
Mr Modi is on a two-day visit to the UAE to hold talks on enhancing cooperation in trade and security. On the first day, he visited an iconic mosque in Abu Dhabi and later interacted with Indian workers.
"This magnificent place of worship strikes you with its size and beauty. It brings together exquisite skills and creations from around the world, and serves as a fine example of human achievements and unity," the PM wrote in the visitors book at the Sheikh Zayed mosque, the third largest in the world, on Sunday.
The PM also posed for a selfie at the mosque, which is constructed with marble brought in from all across the globe, including from India.
PM Modi takes a selfie during his visit to the Sheikh Zayed Grand mosque on Sunday
PM Modi then visited a residential camp that is home to some 28,000 Indians workers, where he interacted with nearly 300 of them.
Mr Modi was received by Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi at the airport, in a departure from protocol.
Earlier, the PM had described the Gulf country as a "mini-India" close to his heart.
About 2.6 million Indians live in the UAE. "India and UAE have everything to be a top priority for each other. This is the way I look at the UAE. The Gulf region is vital for India's economic, energy and security interests," said PM Modi in an interview to Dubai-based newspaper Khaleej Times.
Improving trade and investment ties between the two nations is high on the PM's agenda and his trip is packed with business meetings. Trade with the UAE is pegged at $60 billion a year, down from 2013 but still third highest after trade with the US and China.
UAE's concern over the spread of Islamic State in the region is also expected to feature in talks.