New Delhi: The state visit of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, to India as the chief guest for its Republic Day celebrations, along with a raft of agreements signed between the nations have opened a field of new opportunities and areas of cooperation for both sides, according to Indian business leaders based in the UAE.
“This is a historic turning point in the relationship between the UAE and India,” Dr Azad Moopen, chairman of Aster Healthcare, told Gulf News. “I have been in the UAE for 30 years and I always felt a little disappointed that no Indian prime minister visited the UAE in that period. When Narendra Modi visited the UAE in 2015, we were all very happy. After that it got a further boost with the visit of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed to India in 2016. While the agreements that have been signed between the UAE and India will surely come into play, it’s the warmth and affection of this relationship that is most important — that has taken this relationship to the next level,” he said.
Shaikh Mohammad, flanked by Indian President Pranab Mukherjee and Modi, witnessed history being created on Thursday when a contingent of 179 UAE soldiers marched on Rajpath for the first time as a part of India’s 68th Republic Day parade. On Wednesday, the UAE and India signed 14 agreements including a strategic comprehensive partnership and deals on defence, energy security, maritime cooperation and combating human trafficking.
Watch: Paras Shahdadpuri, Chairman of Nikai Group of Companies, on UAE-India relations and the impact of the new bilateral agreements. (by Chiranjib Sengupta/Gulf News)
“Both the UAE and India earlier enjoyed a great people-to-people interaction, but now the strong government-to-government interaction has opened up new fields of cooperation and collaboration in investments, trade, food security, culture and a variety of other areas. This is a paradigm shift in relations,” Paras Shahdadpuri, chairman of Nikai group of companies, told Gulf News. “The new agreements are huge milestones in bilateral relationship. We have also seen a lot of positive energy between the two leaders and therefore the two countries,” he said.
Echoing similar sentiments, Dr Shamsheer Vayalil, managing director of VPS Healthcare, said: “The mood between the two countries has been tremendous. The affection of the two leaders has changed the whole scenario between India and the UAE … The platform is set for investors to come to India and look out for opportunities.”
Watch: Dr Azad Moopen, chairman of Aster Healthcare, on the deepening ties between UAE and India, and reactions to the the raft of new agreements signed between them. (by Chiranjib Sengupta/Gulf News)
While applauding the ease of doing business in the UAE, he said India should also ensure that foreign investors face no hurdles in setting up new ventures. “The Indian government seems to be very excited about new investment coming in and they seem to be willing to ensure that when the money comes here it is protected and they get the best returns. The same holds true for Indian companies keen to invest in the UAE — the UAE has always been a great place to do business, especially due to its ease of doing business. So India should have the same thing in mind — of keeping it as simple as possible when it comes to doing business,” he told Gulf News.
According to Dr Moopen, a huge pipeline of investments has been promised by the UAE for Indian infrastructure and other sectors during the visit. “If these investments are properly utilised, it will be a great opportunity for India to improve its infrastructure — major roads, rail and highways — and remove all bottlenecks in this regard.”
Another area that carries a potential for dramatic bilateral growth was aviation, he said. “Perhaps an element that should be considered in future discussions is the Open Skies policy between both the countries. I think it has a huge potential for both India and the UAE, but due to the current reciprocal arrangement, only when a new flight from India begins, then a reciprocal flight from the UAE can fly to India. The UAE has got a huge potential in increasing its share of flights to India,” he said.
