India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) intend to increase bilateral trade turnover to USD 100 billion in the next five years. This was announced on Friday, September 2nd by the Indian Foreign Ministry following a meeting of the joint Indian-Emirati commission in the UAE with the participation of foreign ministers of the two states Subramanyam Jaishankar and Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

"Both ministers confirmed their commitment to achieving the goal of annual bilateral trade turnover of 100 billion US dollars in the next five years," the Foreign Ministry said. Currently, this figure is estimated at about 50 billion US dollars annually.

"The ministers also positively assessed the investment partnership between the two countries and the growth of financial investments from the UAE to India in various sectors," the Indian Foreign Ministry stressed.

New Delhi and Abu Dhabi "noted the commitment of both sides to further strengthen the long-term energy partnership." "They also noted progress in cooperation related to renewable energy sources. The ministers expressed their deep satisfaction with the high growth of cooperation between India and the UAE," the Indian Foreign Ministry said. The parties agreed to hold a meeting of the Indian-Emirati high-level task force in India in the near future. 

The closer economic relationship of the two countries is likely to promote even further the already strong partnership and trade turnover that the UAE and India have had in the past. Furthermore, for the purpose of promotion of economic growth and facilitation of doing business, these two regions signed the double tax treaty in 1993. 

Finally, given the strong economic ties between the two countries, an agreement was therefore essential to boost the partnership and structuralize the cooperation between both parties. The landmark agreement, India-UAE Comprehensive Partnership Agreement (CEPA) was entered on the 18th of February, 2022 and came into force on May 1st, 2022.

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