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Dr. Thani Al Zeyoudi, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade, said on Tuesday that the landmark UAE-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) has yielded results in various economic sectors and that its integration brings benefits far beyond trade.
India and the UAE signed CEPA on February 18 last year to boost trade ties following a virtual summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Under CEPA, India gets certain tariff concessions on gold imports from the UAE.
The agreement came into effect on May 1 last year.
“Since the signing of the agreement, Indian business owners have been seeking new opportunities in the UAE, with 11,000 new companies registered with the Dubai Chamber in 2022, bringing the total to more than 83,000,” Al Zeyoudi wrote in Dubai-based Gulf News newspaper.
There is no doubt that CEPA will be seen as an important milestone in the history of the UAE,” he wrote.
Specifically, he wrote in the column, it is the country’s first bilateral agreement as part of its new national strategy to reimagine the economy as open to global trade, talent, technology and targeted investment center.
“The benefits of greater UAE-India integration go far beyond trade,” he stressed.
Earlier this week, Al Zeyoudi held bilateral talks with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal in New Delhi to celebrate the first year of CEPA.
“By removing or reducing tariffs on 80% of goods, removing unnecessary trade barriers, and opening up government procurement to each other’s private sectors, the UAE-India CEPA has the potential to more than double bilateral trade to $100 billion by 2030, ’ he explained.
“There are already indications that the number will be higher,” he said.
“When we launched CEPA, we expected the agreement to increase the UAE’s GDP by 1.7% ($8.9 billion) and exports by 1.5%. We are on track to exceed these figures,” he wrote.
“Preliminary figures show that in the first 12 months of CEPA, non-oil trade volume reached US$50.5 billion, up 5.8 percent year-on-year,” he added.
India and the UAE are looking at ways to increase trade in value-added gold and gold products, Goyal said on Monday.
The UAE is a major destination for Indian gems and jewelry.
The UAE accounts for about 15% of India’s exports in this sector.
According to the Gem and Jewelry Export Promotion Council, total exports of gems and jewelry will drop to $37.5 billion in 2022-23 from $39.33 billion in 2021-22.
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