Pradhan for connecting Odisha with Middle East through airways

 Dubai : Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday said that he has pitched a plan to connect Odisha with Middle East, Europe and Africa through airways, to improve the ties between the two regions .

Talking to ANI, Pradhan said that he has pitched the plan keeping in mind the eagerness of the Central government to increase the air connectivity with other counties."The Centre is very keen to improve the air connectivity, Keeping that in mind, I personally conveyed both to the state and the Central government that Odisha can get air connectivity for Middle East, Europe and Africa," Pradhan said.

Pradhan said that the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has also paid interest in Agriculture & Food Collaboration opportunities between UAE and India.
He further said that he has asked the crown prince to set up a plan for the same and come to India in the coming month and assured the Government of India is ready to provide e-commerce, networking and other facilities.

"I will personally pass his idea to Odisha Government," he said.He added that the Centre is also organising 'Make in Odisha' programme in June and invited new ideas for the same.
Earlier on Sunday, Pradhan said that the UAE has sought India's help in the Frontier Technology.

He informed this after meeting with UAE Minister for Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation Nasser Al Hamli.Frontier Technology is a premier systems integrator and enterprise computing provider specialising in bespoke information technology infrastructure, data management, business continuity and access solutions.
Pradhan informed that around 30-35 lakh people of Indian origin live in UAE, which is one-third of the total population of UAE.

"A large chunk of India's remittance economy comes from UAE. Out of total 59 billion dollars of remittance economy, UAE sends 16 billion dollars. We train Indian manpower as per the needs of UAE then its economy will be benefitted and our manpower will get employment on a good salary," Pradhan said.

He also said that it is necessary to train around two lakh Indians, who come to the UAE every year, as per the needs of the UAE.The Union Petroleum Minister has invited Nasser Al Hamli to India in July after Ramzan to attend the India finals of World Skill event.
Talking about the skill mapping programme, Pradhan said that it aims to provide a conducive work environment for the Indian manpower in UAE.

Earlier, Nasser Al Hamli hailed the contribution of the Indian community in the economy of the UAE."We are very happy to host our Indian guests here. Indians are very hard working and they are very valuable for our economy. We are also happy that they are supporting their families back home in India," Hamli told ANI in Dubai.

Commenting on the Indian workforce in UAE, the minister expressed happiness over how "very hardworking" Indians, "who are valuable to the (UAE) economy," support their families back at home whilst working on the UAE soil.

He further underscored that India and UAE are closely monitoring the situation revolving around the issuance of the visa to the Indians very closely.

"UAE is working with the Indian Government in terms of making sure that our relationship is transparent and contractually very valid and we are monitoring this very closely," the UAE minister told ANI when asked about any possible changes in the UAE's visa policy for Indian employees, given the fact that 3.3 million Indians are working in UAE.

Pradhan is on a three-day visit to the UAE, which commenced on May 12, to follow up on the February 2018 UAE visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.