UAE, India bilateral trade to surpass $88bn this year

Bilateral trade between the UAE and India is set to surpass $88 billion in the 2022-2023 fiscal year, up from last year’s fiscal figures of $73 billion. The development follows the signing of a landmark free trade deal between the two countries during a two-day visit by UAE Foreign Minister, Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, where he met External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar.

The purpose of the visit is to strengthen relations with New Delhi within the framework of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) signed in February. The CEPA is anticipated to boost non-oil trade to $100 billion within the next three to five years.

The UAE is India’s third largest trading partner after the US and China, and an important regional strategic partner for India. The UAE is home to over three million Indian expats, who send billions of dollars in remittances to their families each year.

“The visit will be part of regular consultations between the two countries on bilateral as well as global issues of mutual interest,” a statement by Jaishankar said.

The pair reviewed relations in several areas, especially trade, investment, food security, energy, defence, space and education.

“In line with the UAE-India CEPA, we are seeking to boost our economic cooperation to achieve our ambitious goal of raising our non-oil trade value to around $100 billion in the next five years,” Al-Nahyan said, reported the UAE’s news agency, WAM.

The two Ministers also reviewed “the prospects of the UAE-India cooperation at the level of multilateral groups and organisations, be it through existing partnerships such as the I2U2 Group, or future cooperation opportunities with BRICS, an informal grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation,” the report added.

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