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UAE premier to talk trade in India

His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, will preside over the signing of several agreements aimed at enhancing trade ties between the two countries, the reports said.

India’s exports to the UAE increased from 2.4 billion dollars in 2001-2002 to more than 8.5 billion dollars in 2005-2006, Indian Ambassador C.M. Bhandari told reporters earlier this week.

UAE non-oil exports to India surged from 915 million dollars to 4.3 billion dollars in the same period.

The UAE is a prime destination for Indian migrant workers. Their numbers in the private sector increased in 2006 to around 1.3 million, or 50 percent of the total non-government labour force.

Official data put foreigners at 80 percent of the UAE’s population of 4.1 million at the end of 2005.

Remittances from Indian workers in the UAE in 2006 were expected to reach six billion dollars, out of 20 billion dollars anticipated from six million Indian workers in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

India, which gets most of its oil from the Gulf, is negotiating a free trade agreement with GCC members Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

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