A high level delegation from UAE met Minister of Commerce and Industry, Suresh Prabhu, yesterday to further promote  the strong bi-lateral relations between UAE and India. The Abu Dhabi delegation was led by Ahmad Sultan Alfalahi,Commercial Attache in the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates, New Delhi. The delegation also comprised of Mohamed H. Al Muhairi, Director General, Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Rashed Abdul Karim Al Blooshi,Chief Executive, Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, Mohamed Hamad Al Hameli from the Department of Health, Abu Dhabi.

India-UAE relations are in the spotlight as the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, is visiting the UAE for the World Government Summit(WSG) from 11-13 February, 2018.The PM’s tour will explore areas to further India’s reach to the Arab countries and also expand strategic partnerships in this region. UAE has already announced plans to invest $ 75 billion over 10 years for India’s growing infrastructure projects.

Minister of Commerce and Industry highlighted to the visiting delegation that India has a very strong services sector and India and UAE could formulate a comprehensive economic partnership for developing third country markets in Africa ,Latin America and Central Asia.

On January 14 this year Minister of Commerce and Industry along with senior officials had attended the  5th Meeting of the UAE-India High Level Joint Task Force on investment held in Abu Dhabi to discuss facilitation of investment in key sectors in UAE and India.

The UAE delegation stressed the point that it no longer wishes to continue as an oil-based economy but is very rapidly moving on the path of becoming a knowledge based economy and India with its very strong services sector as well as SME, healthcare, technology ,education sectors ,will be able to capitalise on the UAE’s strength as a hub to further expand India’s business interest in the region as well as Africa.

Economic partnership to develop third-country markets and enhance investment facilitation between India and UAE, leveraging services and SMEs. Discussions focused on formulating a comprehensive economic partnership to leverage India's services sector and the UAE's hub position to expand Indian business into third-country markets, with emphasis on investment facilitation and sectoral cooperation in services, SMEs, healthcare, technology and education to support the UAE's transition toward a knowledge-based economy.