India-UAE Trade Deal to Be Operationalised From May 1, Says Piyush Goyal

Dubai, March 29: The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which was signed last month, will be operationalised on May 1, 2022, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said.

Addressing a Business-to-Business (B2B) Meet on India-UAE CEPA in Dubai on Monday, Goyal said India looks to UAE as a gateway to Africa, other GCC and Middle Eastern countries, CIS countries and some European countries. India-UAE Trade Pact May Benefit $26 Billion Worth of Domestic Goods Subjected to 5% Duty.

"This significantly opens the doors to significant markets all over the world. So when we set out to engage with each other, we were not engaging with a 10 million population in the UAE, I had in mind, and both of us had in our vision, the much larger engagement that this CEPA is going to offer to businesses on both sides," he said.

UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade Thani Al Zeyoudi also attended the B2B meet.

Goyal said the India-UAE CEPA, covering merchandise trade and services, has many firsts to its credit including the fact that the trade pact was sealed in a record short time span of 88 days.

"And this agreement is not about trade alone, it's not about trade in goods and services alone. I think it has a huge geopolitical, economic and also, in some sense, a great human element given the huge presence of the Indian Diaspora in the UAE," the minister said.

He termed the India-UAE Partnership the "defining strategic partnership of the 21st century". This agreement gives a new direction, a paradigm shift to this relationship, he said.

He said India wants a larger share of the UAE market as New Delhi sets its eyes on achieving $1 trillion in goods exports by 2030.

"With the growing role of services, in both the economies, I think that will also give a big thrust to our bilateral engagement in the years to come," he said.

Goyal said the UAE has made commitments about its interest to invest in Indian infrastructure, manufacturing and logistics sectors.

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