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Amiti Sen
India and the UAE are likely to discuss prospects for a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) with the intention of getting into a larger pact with the group of Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries subsequently.
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi will meet in New Delhi on Wednesday to discuss bilateral trade and investment relations and the prospects of a bilateral FTA, an official tracking the matter told BusinessLine.
“Both the UAE and India are keen on an FTA as the proposed pact with the GCC countries is pending for a long time. The two countries are now keen to work out a deal amongst themselves,” the official explained.
The GCC includes the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain. The India-GCC FTA talks, which started in 2004, were suspended in 2008, but with the active involvement of the UAE, they were revived again recently.
FTA talks
“Both sides have been holding discussions on the proposed India-UAE FTA on a virtual mode because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The in-person meeting between the two Ministers is likely to give a boost to the talks,” the official said. India-UAE trade was at $59 billion in 2019-20, making UAE, India’s third largest trading partner for the year after China and the US, per government figures.
UAE is the second largest export destination of India (after US) with nearly $29 billion. For UAE, India is the second largest trading partner for 2019.
India’s major export items to the UAE are petroleum products, precious metals, stones, gems & jewellery, minerals, food items, textiles, engineering goods and chemicals. India’s major imports from the UAE include petroleum and petroleum products, precious metals, stones, gems & jewellery, minerals, chemicals, wood & wood products.
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