NEW DELHI: Dubai has signed an accord to build infrastructure in Illegally Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), the Indian government said on Monday, at a time when the Himalayan region is seeing a resurgence in violence.

No figure for the value of the accord was given.

The memorandum of understanding by Dubai, part of the United Arab Emirates, is the first investment agreement by a foreign government in the sensitive region following the withdrawal of IIOJK’s autonomy and the division of the Muslim-majority state into two territories directly ruled from New Delhi. The New Delhi government said the agreement will see Dubai building infrastructure including industrial parks, IT towers, multi-purpose towers, logistics centres, a medical college and a speciality hospital. “The world has started to recognize the pace (at) which IIOJK is traversing on the development bandwagon,” Indian Trade Minister Piyush Goyal said in a statement. The statement said different entities from Dubai had shown keen interest in investment in IIOJK.—Reuters