India’s Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal has said that his country’s goal is to become the UAE’s number one trading partner.
Goyal talked with industry executives and leaders of Export Promotion Councils in Mumbai on Saturday on using available opportunities to widen their global impression by grasping business platforms and infrastructure offered by the UAE, media reports said.
Goyal told industrialists and export facilitators: “UAE is the gateway to the GCC and all of Africa. Our goal is to become the number one trading partner of the UAE.”
The Minister has also shared his idea of “highly favorable outcomes” to be expected from the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which is almost at the final stage of negotiation.
“There is a lot of good news coming up, across several sectors, as we negotiate and finalize this agreement with the UAE.”
Goyal underlined three implications which reflects the current state of friendship between India and the United Arab Emirates.
“The UAE is celebrating the 50th year of its foundation and India is celebrating the 75th year of its independence. Secondly, UAE has committed $100 billion for investment and infrastructure creation in India. And thirdly, the UAE-India CEPA will be India’s fastest-negotiated Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and the fastest-negotiated CEPA ever between two nations, which also gives the maximum opportunity for Indian business.”
B Thiagarajan, Chairman for the Western Region of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), said: “India-UAE bilateral relations have led to tremendous growth in the past few years and created a framework for strategic partnerships. The interaction today is an example of the opportunities that may emerge as a result of the strong bilateral relationship.”
Representatives from the Engineering Export Promotion Council India, the Gem and Jewelry Export Promotion Council, the Tea Board of India, the Cotton Textile Export Promotion Council, the Spices Board, the Retailers Association of India, the Apparel Export Promotion Council, the Plastic Export Promotion Council, the Clothing Manufacturers Association of India attended the interaction and more than 100 companies joined the conference virtually.