The UAE Minister of Economy, Abdullah bin Touq Al-Marri, participated in the Global Business Summit in India, which was held in New Delhi yesterday and the day before yesterday. Economic and commercial fields and sectors.
Al-Marri reviewed the advantages and opportunities granted by the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement to the markets of the two countries, including the abolition of customs tariffs on more than 80% of Emirati and Indian goods, and there is a plan to cancel all customs tariffs between the two countries, which number 10 thousand within 10 years, in a way that promotes growth. Joint trade and investment exchange, according to the Emirati newspaper, Al-Bayan.
While the agreement provides for enhancing service providers' access to markets across 11 main sectors and more than 100 sub-sectors, including digital trade and intellectual property rights, the agreement also provided for the establishment of a joint council; To promote investments and facilitate bilateral trade procedures.
Al-Marri said: The summit comes in conjunction with the one-year anniversary of the comprehensive economic agreement between the UAE and India, which was signed in February 2022 and entered into force last May, as the agreement drew a new road map that contributes to supporting sustainable economic growth for the two friendly countries.
Al-Marri added: “The agreement played a prominent and major role in promoting non-oil foreign trade between the UAE and India during the past year, which reached nearly 180 billion dirhams ($49 billion), achieving an increase of 10% compared to 2021, especially since the UAE is the third largest trading partner.” global for India.
He continued, We look forward, with our partners in the Indian government, to strengthening cooperation in new areas, most notably: food security, health care, renewable energy, communications, logistics and transportation, waste management, and space technology.
During his speech, Al-Marri stressed that the year 2022 witnessed unprecedented economic growth rates for the UAE. The GDP at constant prices grew by 8.5% during the first half of last year, and the Central Bank of the UAE raised its forecasts for real GDP, to reach 7.6% by the end of 2022, and 3.9% in 2023.
This, in addition to the arrival of the UAE's non-oil foreign trade, for the first time in its history, to more than 2.2 trillion dirhams last year, with a growth of 17% compared to 2021, while the UAE attracted foreign direct investments worth $20.7 billion in 2021, with a growth of 4%. % for the year 2020, bringing the UAE to the first place in West Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.
Al-Marri stated, The UAE is keen to increase its investments in India during the next stage, in various sectors of common interest, especially since the UAE's sovereign wealth funds have invested an estimated $10 billion in the fields of renewable energy, communications, road infrastructure, real estate, and startups.
In addition, Indian investments are witnessing a continuous increase in the UAE, as 11,000 new Indian companies were registered last year, bringing the total number of Indian companies in the UAE to more than 83,000 companies. The data is expected to show that foreign direct investment inflows into the country will reach $22 billion in 2022, which represents 4.3% of the gross domestic product of the national economy.
