The India-UAE connection is more than an economic alliance today, having been shaped by millennia of cultural and economic engagement on the Indian Ocean’s network of exchange. It reflects the UAE’s strong, familial, and strategically vital relationship with India, and it strengthens the UAE’s position as an economic hub for India to pursue sustainable and diverse growth through our strategic location at the crossroads of global trade.
The India-UAE cooperation was built first on commerce in traditional products, and then on oil. It took on a formal dimension following the establishment of the UAE Federation in 1971 and then surged in the 1990s as a liberalised India embraced the potential to export to the UAE and other markets.
The UAE’s emergence as India’s third-largest trading partner has only emphasised the two countries’ bullish outlook on economic relations.
The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) expands on our decades of cooperative effort. It ushers in a watershed moment in our shared history, allowing for increased trade volumes and improved mutual market access, as well as promoting a wide range of economic, industrial, and investment opportunities.
The UAE-India CEPA has been a huge success in the year since it went into effect on May 1, 2022, not only in terms of the volume of non-oil trade, which is expected to reach $50 billion in 2022, with a 10% growth rate but also in terms of the multiplier effects it is creating in our respective economies.
It has functioned as a powerful platform for unprecedented collaborations and multi-sectoral collaboration, covering the greatest possible spectrum of themes (from the digital economy to free trade, among other mutual priorities).
The UAE-India CEPA is igniting the entrepreneurial spirit that exists in both countries, encouraging innovators and investors while also catalyzing SMEs, startups, and India Inc to make significant advances into new markets. The agreement leverages the partnership’s experience in unlocking development, mobilizing money and talent, and policy engineering to establish a new paradigm of deeply complementary and synergistic commerce.
The CEPA between the UAE and India is also a strategic catalyst in tackling critical developmental concerns.
It adds additional relevance to India and the UAE’s position in regional blocs and multilaterals such as the I2U2 and UFI by providing a trade lens to address challenges as diverse as energy and food security, agriculture, and sustainability.
The success of the UAE-India CEPA is due not only to the legacy of the India-UAE partnership but also to our shared principles. The UAE anticipates the establishment of the IIT-Delhi campus in Abu Dhabi next year, as well as the signing of an MoU in academic cooperation between Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy (AGDA) and O P Jindal Global University.
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The UAE and India struck an agreement in September last year to establish the Emirati India Cultural Council.
More recently, the Louvre Abu Dhabi paid homage to Bollywood by introducing its first exhibition of the year – ‘Bollywood Superstars: A Short Story of Indian Cinema’.
The exhibition not only exhibits the depth and richness of Indian art and civilization through its films, but it also exposes our shared heritage, values, and cultural links to the Emirati audience. This expansion of India-UAE exchanges in arts, culture, and education demonstrates that our mutual pool of trust and shared values are a constant source of enrichment.
The CEPA between the UAE and India, as well as our strong people-to-people multicultural fabric, have created a highly beneficial business environment. It is an excellent time for India’s vibrant startup ecosystem, its unicorns, and innovators, to expand and diversify into the Emirati market, and then to the Middle East, Africa, and Europe.
The India-UAE Startup Bridge will provide them with access to a robust enabling ecosystem of investors and fellow entrepreneurs, as well as the ability to obtain funding from venture capitalists and angel investors. The corridor will help CEPA’s ambition for startups by giving them the confidence to scale and strengthen their position in the global market.
When viewed collectively, these projects provide a glimpse of the agreement’s full potential – as the hub of strategic alignments and shared interests, guiding our nations to build competitive, resilient, sustainable, and dynamic economies.
