⇒ Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan held a Virtual Summit on 18 February 2022. Both leaders expressed deep satisfaction at the continuous growth in bilateral relations in all sectors.
Prime Minister and the Crown Prince issued a Joint Vision Statement “Advancing the India and UAE Comprehensive Strategic Partnership: New Frontiers, New Milestone”.
- The shared objective is to promote new trade, investment and innovation dynamic in diverse sectors, including economy, energy, climate action, emerging technologies, skills and education, food security, healthcare and defence and security.
Major highlights of the Virtual Summit:
» India and UAE signed the historic Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).
- The India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) was signed by the Minister of Commerce and Industry Shri Piyush Goyal and Minister of Economy of UAE, Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri in the virtual presence of the two Leaders.
- The Agreement will provide significant benefits to Indian and UAE businesses, including enhanced market access and reduced tariffs.
- It is expected that the CEPA will lead to increase in bilateral trade from the current USD 60 bn to USD 100 bn in the next 5 years.
- CEPA will generate 10 lakh jobs across labour-intensive sectors such as Textiles, Gems & Jewellery, Leather, Footwear, Pharma, Agriculture products, Medical Devices, Plastics, Sports Goods and Automobiles.
» The two Leaders also released Joint Commemorative Stamp on the occasion of 75th anniversary of India’s independence and 50th year of UAE’s foundation.
» Two MOUs signed between Indian and UAE entities were also announced during the Summit.
- These are, MOU between APEDA and DP World & Al Dahra on Food Security Corridor Initiative and MOU between India’s Gift City and Abu Dhabi Global Market on cooperation in financial projects and services.
» Two other MOUs – one on cooperation in Climate Action and the other on Education have also been agreed between the two sides.