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India Accounts for Nearly 15 Per Cent of UAE GDP

MUMBAI — India is a major contributor to the UAE’s economy, accounting for nearly 15 per cent of its total gross domestic product (GDP), Shaikha Lubna Al Qasimi, UAE’s minister of foreign trade, said here on Wednesday.

“The UAE exports 65 per cent of its gold to India making it our largest bilateral trading partner,” the minister said while addressing a business meet – Why UAE – organised by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Trade and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

According to Shaikha Lubna, the partnership between the two countries has come a long way; from trading in just cotton textiles, it now encompasses financial services, telecommunications, engineering, machinery, petrochemicals, metals and processed food products. “India and the UAE can also work together in raising India’s power generation capacity by nearly six-fold by 2030,” she added.

Mohammed Sultan Abdulla Al Owais, the UAE ambassador to India, said trade between the two nations has increased to more than $48 billion today from around $180 million in 1970. “It may come as a surprise to many, but we in the UAE expected it,” he noted. India and UAE can play a vital role globally, he added.

Mana Al Suweidi, director, ministry of foreign trade – and designate commercial attaché, India – said the UAE would be developing several world-class green energy cities and has already allocated a huge budget for the same. The first city ‘Masdar,’ would be coming up soon with a budget of $15 billion.

These cities would have zero carbon emission and would set an example across the world.

“India would be a major contributor to the project with a sizeable percentage of engineers and skilled people coming from here,” he said. “We also plan to set up several green houses across the country and plan to lead the world in such projects,” he added.

A. P. Mull, director, Tata Consulting Engineers Ltd, said the UAE has transformed itself in the last three decades and has emerged as a successful entrepreneurial nation. He said the UAE is the second-largest market for
 Indian products.

He said India and the UAE have signed a number of bilateral agreements to foster businesses; they include pacts for the prevention of the double taxation, mutual cooperation on exchange of information by the respective financial regulatory authorities and development of industries and industrial relations.— Nithin@khaleejtimes.com