India, UAE agree to increase bilateral trade by 60% in next 5 years

India and United Arab Emirates (UAE) have agreed to enhance cooperation in different areas including trade, commerce, energy, defence, space, investments, security and combating Crime.
Both sides reached to these agreements at the 11th session of the India-UAE Joint Commission meeting held in New Delhi. It was co-chaired by Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her visiting counterpart, Foreign Minister of UAE Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan.
Key decisions

• Both sides will increase the bilateral trade by 60 per cent over the next 5 years.
• India will encourage UAE’s investment institutions to raise investments in India.
• Both countries agreed to work for early establishment of the planned India-UAE Joint Fund for investments in the infrastructure sector in India.
• Two sides also signed MoUs on cooperation in the areas of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Telecommunication and Tourism.
• MoU between the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce (FICC) and Federation of UAE Chambers of Commerce and Industry was also signed.

Background
11th session of the India-UAE Joint Commission meeting comes after recent historic visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to UAE in which India has redefined bilateral relationship with UAE and elevated it to a strategic partnership.

Month: Current Affairs - September, 2015