Commerce Ministers of UAE, Oman will lead trade delegations to India

Representational Image. Source: Reuters

Commerce Ministers of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman will be leading trade delegations from their countries to India from Wednesday onwards, the government has announced. Both nations are crucial allies in the Gulf region and have seen bilateral trade ties grow stronger in the past few years.

Separate high-level delegations led by Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri, Minister of Economy of the UAE, and Qais bin Mohammed al Yousef, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion of the Sultanate of Oman will be visiting landing in India from May 10-11, to discuss bilateral trade and investment relations.

The UAE delegation will be meeting Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal in both New Delhi and Mumbai. "The visit provides an excellent opportunity to further strengthen the already close and dynamic economic ties between the two countries. The visit also includes interactions with key investors of both sides," the Commerce Department said.

A number of engagements in New Delhi and Mumbai including B2B Events, industry interactions, and investor meetings are scheduled for the visiting UAE delegation during their stay in India.

Back in February, India signed a trade pact with the UAE that was negotiated in record time and reduces import duties on the majority of Indian exports to the country. The deal came into effect on May 1, and a series of business interactions are now set to be held across India, between businesses from both sides.

The UAE is India's third-largest trade partner globally, after the United States and China. Bilateral trade between both nations stood at $43.3 billion as of 2020-21 and is spread across thousands of traded items. In 2019-20, the pre-pandemic year, trade between the two countries was estimated at $59 billion. However, the government estimates there is a potential to expand this to $ 100 billion. The UAE is also home to 35 lakh persons of Indian origin.

Oman delegation
The multi-sectoral delegation from Oman will be scouting for opportunities in India over the next 5 days. The 48 members delegation includes senior officials and business representatives from diverse areas spanning health, pharmaceuticals, mining, tourism, telecommunication, energy, shipping, and real estate.

During the visit, senior officials from both sides would be participating in the 10th Session of the India-Oman Joint Commission Meeting(JCM) to be held on 11 May in New Delhi.

The visit of the Omani delegation comes at a time when the bilateral trade between the two countries has grown by 82 percent to reach $ 9.94 billion in 2021-2022.

On 12 May, a meeting of the India-Oman Joint Business Council (JBC) will be jointly organized by industry bodies FICCI and the  Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Ministers of both nations are set to participate in the JBC. A number of other engagements in New Delhi and Mumbai including B2B Events, Industry interactions, Investor meetings, and so on are scheduled for the visiting Omani delegation during their stay in India.

The Indian population in Oman continues to be the largest expatriate community in the country, but their population fell to below half a million by the end of 2020 due to a process of 'Omanisation' undertaken by the Sultanate. The government has put in measures to reduce the expatriate population and allow more Omanis to join the job market.