Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, UAE’s Minister of Economy said the alliance between the Emirates and India was central to continued trade and investment opportunities in South Asia and through it toward other markets. He made the comments while speaking at a session titled Is Minilateralism the Future of Global Trade? at the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) conference 2023 in New Delhi on May 24-25, 2023.

“The UAE-India partnership is a driver for economic growth that creates trade and investment opportunities for over 3.8 billion people. Our solid economic partnership contributes to the vitality of trade and investment flows in South Asia and through it towards regional and global markets,” Bin Touq said.

He added, “The two countries are accelerating efforts, hand in hand, to develop our economies and adopt plans, strategies, and initiatives that support our visions for expansion and investment in the new economy sectors.  Through this important economic event, we look forward to enhancing bilateral trade with India in the fields of technology, digital payments, innovation, green energy, healthcare, communication, logistics, transport, waste management, and space technology.”

Several topics concerning global trade were discussed and participants shared ideas for enhancement and ease of market reach for importers and exporters. During the session, Bin Touq announced that the Emirates and India were working hand-in-hand toward further developing their economies.

UAE was India’s third-largest trading partner for the 2021-22 period. India’s exports to the UAE for the year 2021-22 amounted to US$ 28 billion.  Both countries signed the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in 2022 which is expected to increase bilateral trade in goods to US$ 100 billion over five years and trade in services to US$ 15 billion.

The Ministry of Economy shared that CEPA yielded positive results. ”It played a vital role in enhancing trade exchanges, facilitating investment flows and creating more opportunities and capabilities for exporters and importers in both markets. The agreement has enabled advantages like an open and non-discriminatory environment for cross-border trade with India and the abolition of customs tariffs on more than 80 per cent of UAE and Indian goods. It also enhanced the access of service providers to markets across 11 main sectors and more than 100 sub-sectors including digital trade and intellectual property rights, creating job opportunities in many sectors and economic activities,” the ministry said, as per a press release.