Overall, India will benefit from preferential market access provided by the UAE on over 97 per cent of its tariff lines which account for 99 per cent of Indian exports to the UAE in value terms particularly from labour-intensive sectors such as gems and jewellery, textiles, leather, footwear, sports goods, plastics, furniture, agricultural and wood products, engineering products, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and automobiles. As regards trade in services, Indian service providers will have enhanced access to around 111 sub-sectors from the 11 broad service sectors, the ministry of commerce and industry said in a media release.

CEPA is expected to increase the total value of bilateral trade in goods to over $100 billion and trade in services to over $15 billion within five years.

Speaking at the ceremony, commerce secretary said it was a momentous occasion. Highlighting the immense potential for strategic partnership between the two nations, he said that the agreement is a trendsetter because of the short time in which it was negotiated. 

He added that although the agreement had envisioned a target of $100 billion worth of trade, given the size of India's market and the access that UAE would give to India, much more could be achieved. Noting that the agreement was an outcome of the vision of the leaders of the two nations, the commerce secretary said that for India, UAE would be a gateway to the world.

Underscoring the need for Indian products to be competitive in the international market, the secretary said that there was a need to build and augment our capacities. He also added that the government was working on reducing the logistics cost so that the products from hinterland could also be competitive.

Subrahmanyam informed that India was negotiating trade agreements at a very fast pace with complementary economies and that talks were ongoing with UK, Canada and EU.

He also spoke of the need to communicate the benefits of such trade agreements to the exporter community in layman's language so that they understand the provisions of the agreement and make the best possible use of it. Highlighting the need for market intelligence and data analytics, which the government would be focusing on in future, the secretary urged the exporters to take advantage of free trade agreements.

Stating that $670 billion of exports (goods and service) during last fiscal year constituted 22-23 per cent of the GDP, Subrahmanyam said that exports are an important engine of growth in every economy and the world was looking to India as a reliable partner. He further added that we would be a $40 trillion economy in the next 25 years.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KD)