Both countries aims to resolve trade remedy cases
Negotiations on the India-United Arab Emirates Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) will be concluded by December 2021 and a formal pact signed by March 2022 on completion of internal legal procedures and ratification. The aim is to raise bilateral trade to US$100 billion in five years.
Also, the signed agreement aims to increase trade in services to US$15 billion, said the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, announcing the start of discussions on the free trade pact.
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and the UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade, Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, formally launched the negations on 22 Sept 2021.
Both Ministers emphasized that concluding CEPA negotiations quickly and constructively will further strengthen the deep trade and economic ties between both countries.
Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi and his high-level delegation have held talks in New Delhi to improve bilateral economic relations, including expanding the existing trade and investment relationship.
Looking to build on the progress made by both countries under the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership signed in 2017, both Ministers have expressed a desire to reach a mutually beneficial economic deal.
The UAE is currently India’s third-largest trading partner with bilateral trade in 2019-20 valued at US$59 billion. The UAE is also India’s second-largest export destination after the US, with exports valued at approximately US$29 billion in 2019-20.
India was the UAE’s second-largest trading partner in 2019, with bilateral non-oil trade valued at US$41 billion. The UAE is the eighth-largest investor in India, having invested US$11 billion between April 2000 and March 2021, while Indian companies have invested over US$85 billion in the UAE.
India’s major exports to the UAE include petroleum products, precious metals, stones, gems and jewellery, minerals, food items such as cereals, sugar, fruits and vegetables, tea, meat, and seafood, textiles, engineering and machinery products as well as chemicals.
India’s top imports from the UAE include petroleum and petroleum products, precious metals, stones, gems and jewellery, minerals, chemicals and wood and wood products. India imported US$10.9 billion of crude oil from the UAE in 2019-20.
Reaffirming their commitment to working together, both Ministers agreed to strengthen the rules-based, transparent, non-discriminatory, open and inclusive multilateral trading system embodied by the World Trade Organization. They also agreed to work towards a balanced and inclusive outcome at the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC12) in Geneva.
Goyal confirmed he will co-chair the ninth UAE-India High Level Joint Task Force on Investments with Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a Member of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council.
Both Ministers underlined the need to coordinate and promote cooperation under the framework of the memorandum of understanding signed in January 2017 between the two countries for cooperation on trade remedy measures. As envisaged in that agreement, both countries will identify clear areas of focus and establish ways of working together to resolve trade remedy cases. #exports #investment #trade #manufacturing /fiinews.com
