India, UAE to strengthen bilateral trade ties

With bilateral trade worth $15 bn, India and UAE are inching towards signing FTA to increase the non-oil trade share.

With bilateral trade crossing 15 billion dollars, India and the UAE have agreed to boost trade cooperation further.

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The issue was discussed during talks between Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath and UAE Minister of Economy Sheikh Lubna bin Khalid Al Qasimi.

Besides bilateral relations and cooperation in the economic field, the two sides discussed progress on the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the GCC and India.

Trade between the UAE and India touched 15.772 billion dollars in 2003, with UAE non-oil exports accounting for four billion dollars and imports estimated at 12 billion dollars.

India's exports to GCC countries touched 10 billion dollars between April 2004 and March 2005, while its non-oil imports from the GCC reached seven billion dollars during the same period.