New Delhi to host meeting with Arab League foreign ministers

India and the UAE will co-chair the gathering on Saturday, amid tensions in the Middle East

New Delhi will host the 2nd India-Arab Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (IAFMM) on Saturday, the Indian Foreign Ministry has said.

Foreign ministers of Arab League member states and the organization’s secretary-general will take part in the meeting, which will be co-chaired by India and the UAE.

”The foreign ministers’ meeting is happening after a gap of 10 years, the first meeting being held in 2016 in Bahrain,” the Indian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday. “At the first FMM, the ministers identified five priority verticals of cooperation: economy, energy, education, media and culture and proposed a set of activities across these verticals.”

The meeting comes amid growing tensions in the Middle East, with the possibility of a military confrontation between the US and Iran, as well as media reports of a rift between the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

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Earlier this month, India and the UAE signed a letter of intent for wider strategic defense partnership.

”Partnership that is based on trust and will endure through thick and thin. This is precisely what defines the UAE-India relationship,” Sultan Al Jaber, the UAE minister of industry and advanced technology, said on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, an Indian delegation held a security dialogue with Saudi Arabia in Riyadh, where a “comprehensive review of ongoing security cooperation” was held. The sides also discussed threats posed by terrorist groups, according to the Indian Foreign Ministry.

”Both sides reiterated their condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, including cross border terrorism and the dastardly terrorist attack on innocent civilians on April 22, 2025 in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, and the terror incident on November 10, 2025 near Red Fort, New Delhi,” the ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.