Commerce & Industry Minister to Visit UAE for meeting of High Level Task Force on Investment

India Pavilion Design for World Expo 2020 to be Unveiled by Piyush Goyal

Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Railways, Piyush Goyal will visit UAE from 21st to 22nd September 2019 for the meeting of the 7th India-UAE High Level Task Force on Investment (HLTFI). The meeting will see wide-ranging discussions on priority sectors of engagement for channelling investments between the two countries.

The HLTFI was established in May 2012 to address issues associated with existing investments between India and UAE. It is an institutional arrangement to discuss ways for increasing investments and deliberating on opportunities for cooperation and investment in both the countries. The Task Force has made significant strides in reinforcing and deepening economic cooperation between India and UAE.

Over the years HLTFI has emerged as an effective platform for promoting, facilitating and expanding investments between the two countries and for addressing key constraints that companies form either side may face.

The meeting will be co-chaired by Union Minister of Commerce and Industry & Railways, Piyush Goyal and Sheikh Hamad bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Managing Director of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Crown Prince Court of Abu Dhabi.

The meeting proposes to deliberate in eight identified sectors where the Indian Commerce and Industry Minister will proactively seek FDI investment from UAE into India. The sectors are petroleum and natural gas, food processing, civil aviation, railways, renewable energy, infrastructure, shipping and construction.

During his visit to UAE Commerce and Industry Minister will also unveil the design of the India pavilion at the World Expo 2020 in Dubai. Piyush Goyal will also visit the India pavilion construction site.

Union Minister of Commerce and Industry and Railways will review the preparations underway by the Department of Commerce and other stakeholders for the construction of the India Pavilion at the Dubai World Expo 2020 which will take place for six months beginning 20th October 2020 up to 10th April 2021.

The India Pavilion will be a permanent structure being constructed in the ‘Opportunity’ segment. The building will embody India’s worship of nature and will be environment friendly. It will also showcase the 150^th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi being celebrated this year.

Twenty-seven focus sectors have been identified to showcase India’s advances in space, pharmaceuticals, information technology, renewable energy and telecom sectors and also India’s strength in innovation and start-ups.

India and World Expo 2020 signed participants contract on 10th April 2018 for India’s pavilion in the prestigious World Expo held once in five years. The contract provided for the setting up of India Pavilion on an extra-large plot (about one acre). This is in tune with the opportunity for economic activity that India provides on its path to becoming a USD five trillion economy by 2025. FICCI has been tasked with helping the Government of India to prepare for Indian presence at the Expo.

Foreign investment facilitation via a high level task force to solicit UAE FDI into eight priority Indian sectors. A bilateral investment promotion meeting of the India-UAE High Level Task Force on Investment will be held to address investment obstacles and actively solicit UAE FDI into eight priority Indian sectors: petroleum and natural gas, food processing, civil aviation, railways, renewable energy, infrastructure, shipping and construction. The Task Force serves as an institutional mechanism to promote, facilitate and expand bilateral investment flows and cooperation.