New Delhi: With an aim to boost trade ties, India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will sign a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) today.
The agreement most likely will be signed after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan's virtual summit today.
After PM Modi's briefing about the India-UAE virtual summit, CEPA will be signed later this evening.
Piyush Goyal will represent India at the signing ceremony. While for signing the trade pact UAE’s minister of state for foreign trade Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi will be present in New Delhi.
In September last year, both the countries had formally launched negotiations on the free trade agreement, officially dubbed as the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).
ALSO READ: Elon Musk Compares Canada PM Justin Trudeau To Hitler In A Tweet, Deletes After Backlash
Aim Of This Trade Pact
The trade deal aims to more than double the bilateral trade in goods to $100 billion within five years, according to a Business Standard report.
Both countries are expected to give duty-free access to a large number of items across various sectors from April 1, according to Business Standard. The pact will also consider duty for some (other) items to be reduced in a phased manner.
Besides, the pact will also aim to liberalise norms to enhance trade in services and boost investments.
Bilateral trade between India and the UAE stood at $43.3 billion in 2020-21. Exports were $16.7 billion and imports aggregated at $26.7 billion in 2020-21. This would be the second such agreement to be signed by the current government.
The UAE also has a huge Indian diaspora, and a large market for products like textiles, gems and jewellery, leather, footwear and food items, which are labour oriented sectors.
The deal assumes significance considering UAE is India’s third-largest trading partner and the second-largest export destination after the US.