UAE-India Partnership and Promoting Regional Growth
A sound and objective view of the UAE-India economic partnership should not only be centred around considering it an inspiring success story of cooperation between two major poles in Asia, but also as a fundamental pillar of regional growth and an important step towards supporting global prosperity.
While India’s economic growth is an important source of Asian growth at a rate of nearly 8.2% last year (2023), the UAE’s economy represents an indispensable link in the trade chains linking the East and West of the world, a shining beacon on the global investment map, and a home to a competitive business environment rich in promising opportunities. For all of this, the announcement of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between the UAE and India in mid-2022 heralded the beginning of a new era of economic successes in the areas of trade, investment, payment systems, technology, and others. In an article published by the Indian newspaper “Economic Times”, His Excellency Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, highlighted several indicators of the success of the UAE-India partnership and its opportunities for prosperity in the coming few years. Among these indicators is that the first half of 2024 witnessed a growth in non-oil bilateral trade between the two parties at a rate of 10% on an annual basis, reaching a value of about $28.2 billion, with India occupying a prominent position among the UAE’s non-oil trade partners, with a share of about 7.4% of the UAE’s total foreign trade.
The successes of the UAE-India partnership in terms of investment have been evident in several quantitative and qualitative indicators. In terms of quantity, the UAE became the fourth largest foreign investor in India in 2023, with investments worth $3.35 billion, which is three times its value in 2022.
In the same vein, Indian investments in the UAE market in 2023 reached about $2.05 billion, which is more than its total investments in 2021 and 2022 combined. In terms of the quality of investments, high-value-added sectors received the attention of investment partners from the public and private sectors in the two countries, and the logistics, healthcare, food production systems, retail, real estate, aviation, tourism and financial services sectors were at the forefront of sectors attracting these investments.
The returns of the UAE-India economic partnership did not stop there, as the record growth in trade and investment figures in 2023 paved the way for an advanced payment system in national currencies, as part of broader plans by the two countries’ central banks to increase the efficiency of trade and investment and reduce the costs of financial transactions.
The opening of the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi in Abu Dhabi, as the institute’s first international campus, is a pioneering step in deepening technological partnership and exchanging knowledge and expertise to empower human capital.
While the above indicators confirm the success of the UAE-India partnership for the national economies of the two countries, they provide strong evidence of the benefits of this partnership for regional growth and global prosperity, as it shows the importance of this partnership for international logistics, technology leadership, the global energy sector, and African growth. On the one hand, the flourishing of UAE-India trade benefits maritime traffic through the trade routes connecting East Asia and Southern Europe.
On the other hand, this partnership ensures stability and flexibility for the global energy market, given that both parties are major players in this market. On the third hand, the UAE-India partnership in the field of technology accelerates their cooperation in the fields of digital transformation and artificial intelligence leadership regionally.
Fourthly, the partnership between the UAE and Indian economies enhances their presence in the promising African market, to support economic growth in Africa and ensure that this growth is in the interest of Africa and the world as a whole.
* Issued by the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research.
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