Trade deal to be the focus of UAE officials' India visit

Abdulla bin Touq, Minister of Economy, will lead an Emirati delegation to discuss the benefits of the recent CEPA agreement between the two countries

India was the UAE's second-largest trading partner last year. Photo: Ryan Carter / Ministry of Presidential Affairs

A delegation of UAE officials will visit India on Wednesday to discuss maximising the benefits of the UAE-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, or CEPA.

The deal was signed by both countries in February this year, and came into effect at the start of May.

Abdulla bin Touq, Minister of Economy, will lead the delegation.

The focus of the visit will be on industrial production, civil aviation, financial services, ICT, food security, transport and infrastructure, logistical services, agri-technology, entrepreneurship and other future economic factors sectors, according to state news agency Wam.

UAE ministers will also hold discussions with their Indian counterparts, senior government officials and private sector leaders on how to double non-oil trade under CEPA.

The delegation will also meet business figures, entrepreneurs and start-ups in New Delhi.

In Mumbai, public and private representatives will gather for a UAE-India Economic Partnership Summit.

On May 3, the UAE received its first duty-free imports from India containing gold and jewellery items valued at $1 million (Dh3.67m).

With the previous 5 per cent duty on the items now scrapped under the new agreement, the first customers to import duty-free goods saved about $50,000 in tax.

India was the UAE's second-largest trading partner last year. It accounted for 9 per cent of the total volume of the Emirates' trade with the world, and 13 per cent of the UAE's non-oil exports.

Non-oil foreign trade between the two countries last year reached Dh165 billion, a growth of 66 per cent compared to 2020.

Making up the rest of the delegation will be Dr Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi, Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and SMEs; Dr Ahmed Al Banna, UAE ambassador to India; Juma Mohammed Al Kait, the Assistant Under-Secretary for Foreign Trade Affairs, Ministry of Economy; Faisal Al Hammadi, Acting Assistant Under-Secretary for Entrepreneurship and SMEs; Abdulla Mohamed Almazrui, chairman of the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Osama Amir Fadhel, Assistant Under-Secretary for the Industrial Accelerators Sector at Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology; and more than 80 representatives from the government and the private sector.

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