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India - UAE C.E.P.A agreement: Growth Perspectives


When it comes to opining over something, I always try to check my firsthand experience. Today’s topic is one such point which I have selected to deliberate upon out of our experience as a Greenfield & Brownfield industrial consulting company.


I know when we started off as an aspirational organization some 10 years back, we always had a vision to transcend beyond geographical boundaries. Going global was always driving us.


However, I think our decision of opening up of our M.E.N.A. Region operations from Dubai greatly coincides with my today’s topic “India - UAE C.E.P.A. Agreement: Growth a perspectives”.


I personally believe that time could not have been so ripe even for us and for other aspirational MSMES across India and the UAE to synergies their business relationships in this era.


Both the leaderships of India and the UAE are pragmatic and development oriented. However, the ice on the cake being great people to people contact prevailing already between the Middle East and India.


While initially the C.E.P.A. (Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement) was initially signed on 18th February, 2022 it covers a plethora of areas which can be summarised as Trade in Goods, Rules of Origin, Trade in Services, Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures, Dispute Settlement, Movement of Natural Persons, Telecom, Customs Procedures, Pharmaceutical products, Government Procurement, IPR, Investment, Digital Trade and Cooperation in other Areas.


With both the countries having a visionary leadership at the helm of affairs they seem to be determined in making the CEPA work for bilateral benefits and mutual growth.


In my view, CEPA is an illustrious example of synergy between two aspirational nations guided by the will and determination of their leaders.


India will benefit from preferential market access provided by the UAE which especially includes labour-intensive sectors such as Gems and Jewellery, Textiles, leather, footwear, sports goods, plastics, furniture, agricultural and wood products, engineering products, medical devices, and Automobiles to name a few.


The UAE is also the eight largest investor in India with an estimated investment of US$ 18 billion. Moreover, India and the UAE have recently entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) whereby the UAE has committed US$ 75 billion towards infrastructure development in India. Further, in October 2021, Government of Dubai signed an MoU with the Jammu and Kashmir administration for real estate development, industrial parks, IT towers, multipurpose towers, logistics, medical college, super specialty hospital and more.


So I think with CEPA in place, FDI facilitators like us shall have a very busy time traversing between the UAE and India.


…and why not, after all it is the duty & dexterity of the professional community of both the countries to contribute and help both the countries in making the most out of this agreement.

 
 

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