UAE, India to boost cooperation via digital currency
The Emirati Central Bank has begun implementing its digital dirham strategy following a financial cooperation agreement with India and the UAE's cryptocurrency push.
![A man walks past a sign of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in Mumbai on August 5, 2022. - India's central bank on August 5 hiked interest rates for the third time in four months, as Asia's third-largest economy contends with a widening trade deficit and weakening currency. (Photo by Indranil MUKHERJEE / AFP) (Photo by INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP via Getty Images)](/sites/default/files/styles/article_hero_medium/public/2023-03/GettyImages-1242316070.jpg?h=bd00cca8&itok=HTDMtFjL)
The United Arab Emirates and India are continuing to further bilateral cooperation, including with a digital currency initiative announced on Thursday.
The UAE Central Bank signed an agreement with the Emirati artificial intelligence firm G42 Cloud to start the process of ultimately launching a digital form of the Emirati currency, the dirham. The strategy will include feasibility work with India for the purpose of trade, the soft launch of a program called “mBridge” to facilitate international trade with the currency, and feasibility work on using the currency for wholesale and retail domestically, the bank said in a statement.