India, UAE review trade pact

New Delhi, November 22

On a day the Australian Parliament cleared the FTA with India, New Delhi held a high-level review of a similar pact with the UAE, which was the first to be signed and implemented by the Modi government. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met with UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan here on Tuesday.

Both noted that bilateral trade could touch $88 billion if the trend during the first six months continued. India’s exports to the UAE between April-September were about $16 billion and imports were $28.4 billion.

The Foreign Ministers also touched upon food security cooperation under a four-way pact signed with Israel and the US. Already, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat have identified banana, potato, rice, spices and onions for the food parks that will export them to the UAE. Both sides have also taken forward their discussions on other areas of cooperation, including energy and healthcare.