Abu Dhabi: Bilateral trade ties between India and the UAE are set to reach new heights as the UAE’s Foreign Minister Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan embarks on a two-day visit to India starting September 2.
Shaikh Abdullah will be leading a delegation consisting of senior officials and captains of the industry for the India-UAE Joint Commission Meeting on Technical and Economical Cooperation, scheduled to be held in New Delhi on September 2 and 3.
Speaking to Gulf News, T.P. Seetharam, India’s Ambassador to the UAE, said the visit would further strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries.
“It is a very important visit. A large delegation of more than 80 members, including senior officials and businessmen representing various sector of the UAE economy, will be visiting as part of the Joint Commission Meeting. A number of areas have been identified for a broad cooperation between the two countries,” he said, adding that the visit would be a follow up to the joint statement issued by India and the UAE at the end of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the UAE last month.
“Whatever ideas that were discussed during Prime Minister’s visit will be transformed into concrete cooperation. An outcome document will be issued after the meeting,” Seetharam said.
The Joint Commission Meeting will be co-chaired by India’s External Affairs Minister and the UAE’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, a statement issued by India’s Ministry of External Affairs said.
On the agenda would be bilateral issues such as trade, investment and cooperation in new areas that include defence production, infrastructure, security, counter-terrorism, energy security, and small-to-medium sized enterprises.
The two countries will also look to enhance collaboration in space and renewable energy, advanced health care, urban development and agriculture techniques for arid climates.
Robin Mills, head of Consulting at the Manaar Energy Group, said electricity generation sector is the major issue for India.
“A company like Mubadala could invest in the oil and gas production sector, but that has been difficult for foreign investors,” he said. “For energy investment into the UAE, Indian companies have not been very much involved but that might change.”
During his visit to the UAE, Modi invited UAE businessmen to invest in India. In a presentation given to UAE-based businessmen at Masdar City, he offered investment opportunities to the tune of $1 trillion (Dh3.67 trillion).
He added that his administration would take urgent steps to address the concerns of the UAE businessmen and erase a deficit of 34 years.
Modi is the first Indian Prime Minister to visit the UAE in the last 34 years. Indira Gandhi came to the UAE in 1981.
The two countries decided to set up a $75 billion India-UAE Infrastructure Investment Fund to support India’s plans for the rapid expansion of next-generation infrastructure in railways, ports, roads, airports and industrial corridors and parks.
Bilateral trade between the two countries stands at $60 billion for the year 2014-15. India is the UAE’s second-largest trading partner and the UAE is India’s third-largest trading partner after China and the US. Both countries plan to increase trade to 60 per cent in the next five years.
