UAE, India sign trade deal

NEW DELHI: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and India Friday signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), boosting non-oil trade between the two countries to $100 billion in five years, from $60 billion currently, foreign media reported.

The agreement marks a new phase of strategic co-operation and will open additional avenues of investment and trade for companies in both India and the UAE. The pact will be a "towering achievement" in trade relations between the two countries and will add 1.7 per cent or $8.9bn to the UAE's gross domestic product by 2030, Abdullah bin Touq, UAE Minister of Economy, said in an online joint press conference on Friday in New Delhi in the presence of top government officials from both sides.

The 881-page agreement lifts 80 per cent of tariffs on UAE and India goods, while all tariffs will be removed within ten years, Thani Al Zeyoudi, the UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade, said. Key UAE commodities that will benefit from the tariff elimination include aluminum, copper and petrochemicals.

Among the key Indian sectors that will benefit from the CEPA are textiles, agriculture, furniture, pharmaceuticals and engineering, India’s Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal, said.

The deal will promote trade, investment and innovation dynamic in diverse sectors, including economy, energy, climate action, emerging technologies, skills and education, food security, healthcare and defence and security, India's prime minister's office said in a statement.

The agreement was signed by Goyal and bin Touq in the presence of Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Friday in New Delhi in an online ceremony. India and the UAE also signed two initial pacts related to food security and financial services.