Shaikha Lubna woos Indian companies

New Delhi: Minister of Foreign Trade Shaikha Lubna Bint Khalid Al Qasimi represented the UAE in the second edition of the annual Arab-India Partnership Conference which began in New Delhi on Monday. She is being accompanied by a high-level delegation of 43 representatives from the public and private sectors.

The two-day conference is being held under the auspices of the Indo-Arab Cooperation Forum.

Shaikha Lubna urged Indian and global companies to take advantage of trade and investment incentives provided by the UAE. She also highlighted the UAE's proximity to European and emerging Asian markets.

The presence of a vibrant non-oil sector that contributes more than 63 per cent of GDP and the ready availability of raw materials and cheap energy were also highlighted.

The absence of taxes on profits and personal income and other features such as the work environment in the UAE were also underscored in her speech.

Shaikha Lubna observed that the UAE is the largest Arab trading partner of India, noting that the value of non-oil trade between the two countries reached around $32.1 billion (Dh117.7 billion) or 15 per cent of the UAE's total foreign trade volume with the rest of the world.