Friday, 17 May, 2024
As part of a two-nation journey that will also take him to Qatar, Modi arrived in Abu Dhabi and met with Mohamed bin Zayed to evaluate the bilateral partnership and talk about regional and global challenges. Image Source: IANS
Eight agreements were exchanged between the two heads of state during their meetings, one of which was a bilateral investment treaty described by the external affairs ministry as a "key enabler" for future investments in both countries.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan reviewed potential areas of cooperation as they signed eight agreements on Tuesday to strengthen cooperation in important areas like investments, power trade, and digital payment platforms. As part of a two-nation journey that will also take him to Qatar, Modi arrived in Abu Dhabi and met with Mohamed bin Zayed to evaluate the bilateral partnership and talk about regional and global challenges. The signing of a free trade agreement (FTA) in 2022 increased trade between India and the United Arab Emirates, one of its closest strategic and energy partners in West Asia.
Eight agreements were exchanged between the two heads of state during their meetings, one of which was a bilateral investment treaty described by the external affairs ministry as a "key enabler" for future investments in both countries. In his remarks at the meeting, Modi called the leader of the UAE, also known as MBZ, his "brother" and said he always feels like he is seeing members of his family and has returned to his own home. This is Modi's seventh visit to the United Arab Emirates; the two leaders have met five times in the last seven months.
A further noteworthy accord focused on connecting domestic debit/credit cards, RuPay (India) and JAYWAN (UAE). This action is a major step towards improving bilateral economic relations as it attempts to increase financial sector collaboration and encourage broader acceptance of RuPay cards throughout the United Arab Emirates. In Abu Dhabi, they jointly launched the UPI RuPay card service. At this momentous occasion, President Nahyan launched the service in the capital of the United Arab Emirates by swiping a card bearing his name.
India just declared a day ago that Sri Lanka and Mauritius will now be able to use its UPI payment service. Prior to this, on February 2, Prime Minister Modi's "vision of taking UPI global" was officially announced when India inaugurated the UPI at the famous Eiffel Tower in Paris.
Recently, While addressing at the ‘UAE India Business Summit’ held at the 10th edition of Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, the Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, Piyush Goyal underscored the multifaceted nature of the India-UAE partnership, encompassing collaborations in space exploration, security, education, and climate action. He further said that New Delhi and Abu Dhabi aspire to expand their bilateral trade to $100 billion.
CEPA has made a substantial impact on India's bilateral trade with the UAE over the past year, particularly India's exports of both oil and non-oil goods to the UAE. During the fiscal year 2022–2023, bilateral trade between India and the UAE reached record highs. Trade increased by 16 percent compared to the previous year from $ 72.9 billion (Apr 21–Mar 2022) to $ 84.5 billion (Apr 22–Mar 2023). During the CEPA Implementation period (from May 22 to Mar 23), bilateral trade increased from $ 67.5 billion (May 21-Mar 2022) to $ 76.9 billion (May 22-Mar 2023) – an annual increase of 14 percent.
Source: Ministry of Commerce and Industry
India-UAE trade rose to USD 85 billion in 2022, making the UAE India’s third-largest trading partner for the year 2022-23 and India's second-largest export destination. India is the UAE’s second largest trading partner. In February 2022, India became the first country with which the UAE signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). Bilateral trade has increased by approximately 15 percent since the entry into force of the CEPA on May 1, 2022.
The CEPA is the first comprehensive free trade agreement (FTA) that India has signed in the previous ten years. Over 80 percent of the goods traded between India and the UAE are eligible for preferential market access under the CEPA. In particular, sectors including gems and jewellery, textiles, leather, footwear, sporting goods, plastics, furniture, agricultural and wood products, engineering products, medical equipment, and vehicles will profit from the decrease or abolition of tariffs on India's exports to the UAE.
The CEPA covers 11 broad service sectors and more than 100 sub-sectors. A liberal and nondiscriminatory regime for cross-border investment between India and the UAE is provided by the CEPA. Provisions on dispute resolution and collaboration for investment facilitation are also covered.
Some of the key sectors, including labour-intensive sectors, that have witnessed significant export growth on account of the CEPA include: Mineral Fuels; Electrical Machinery (particularly telephone equipment); Gems & Jewellery; Automobiles (Transport vehicles segment); Essential Oils/Perfumes/Cosmetics (Beauty/Skin care products); Other Machinery; Cereals (Rice); Coffee/Tea/Spices; Other Agri Products; and Chemical Products
Under the India-UAE CEPA in the Goods Domain, the UAE eliminated duties on 97.4 percent of its tariff lines corresponding to 99 percent of imports from India. India has obtained immediate duty elimination on over 80 percent of its tariff lines corresponding to 90 percent of India’s exports in value terms.
