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According to Abdulnasser Alshaali, UAE Ambassador to India, India and the UAE are discussing using the rupee settlement mechanism for trade.
After the US and China, the UAE is India’s third largest trading partner. In an interview with India Daily, Alshaali said that the GCC-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which is expected to start negotiations next year, may include elements of the India-UAE FTA and that the two countries are in talks on cooperation in defense technology.
On the current state of India-UAE relations, he said, “About seven or eight years ago, the bilateral relationship started to shift, as evidenced by the increase in high-level visits between the two countries.
The two sides agreed on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and the establishment of platforms such as I2U2 (Israel-India-US-UAE), and India also invited the UAE to participate in the G20 as an independent country of honor for the second consecutive year, he added.
India has been pushing for rupee settlement between new delhi and Abu Dhabi. However, the ambassador said, we are talking about a standard currency swap settlement between the two countries using their respective local currencies.
Regarding the inclusion of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries in the UAE-CEPA, he said, “The GCC has its own track in the FTA and they are working on aspects of the UAE-India CEPA that can be imported into the UAE-GCC Free Trade Agreement. As we are deeply integrated into the GCC market, the GCC-India FTA will complement the CEPA we already have, resulting in more favorable open competition among GCC countries and within the region.”
India and the UAE are also cooperating in the defense sector, and according to Ambassador Al Shali, a high-level Indian delegation visited the UAE two or three months ago.
On our side, a representative of the Ministry of Defense was present, as were representatives of the agency that oversees our defense industry, and they met with their Indian counterparts. Discussions on joint development of defense technologies are still at an early stage, he added.
He acknowledged that the defense market has not been fully utilized or explored.
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