News Highlights:
- India and the UAE share a robust trade relationship, with India being the UAE’s second-largest trading partner, accounting for 9 per cent of its total foreign trade and 14 per cent of non-oil exports.
- Earlier, India and United Arab Emirates (UAE) signed Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) during a virtual summit.
India- UAE Relations:
- Overview:
- India and the UAE established diplomatic relations in 1972.
- UAE opened its Embassy in Delhi in 1972 & India opened its Embassy in Abu Dhabi in 1973.
- India and United Arab Emirates (UAE) enjoy strong bonds of friendship based on age-old cultural, religious and economic ties between the two nations.
- Economic & Commercial Relations:
- India and UAE have shared trade links through the centuries.
- Trade, which was dominated by traditional items such as dates, pearls and fish, underwent a sharp change after the discovery of oil in the UAE (oil exports began from Abu Dhabi in 1962).
- The real impetus, however, started after Dubai positioned itself as a regional trading hub by the early 1990s and about the same time, the economic liberalisation process started in India.
- Bilateral trade in FY 2021-22 was about US$ 72 billion. UAE is India’s third-largest trade partner and second-largest export destination.
- UAE’s FDI in India has increased over the past few years and currently stands at over $12 billion.
- Defence and Security Cooperation:
- Bilateral Defence Interaction between India and UAE has been steadily growing in accordance with other aspects of the bilateral relationship.
- There have been regular high-level & functional level exchanges between the two countries.
- The ships of the Navies of both countries have regularly made port calls enhancing bilateral defence cooperation.
- India and UAE signed a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2017 and held annual defence dialogues.
- More recently, UAE has been a key part of the Indian Ocean Region dialogue.
- Both sides take part in military exercises with each other, and there have been several Military chiefs visits.
- Space Cooperation:
- Space cooperation between India and the UAE gained quick momentum during Prime Minister’s visit to the Emirates in 2015.
- Together, the two space agencies have developed the nano-satellite, Nayif-1, which was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, in India.
- The two countries are likely to work together on Emirates ‘Red Planet Mission’.
- Indian Community:
- The Indian expatriate community of approximately 3.4 million is the largest ethnic community in the UAE, constituting roughly about 35% of the country’s population.
- The remittances from the UAE in the first half of 2020 accounted for US $21 billion.
Issues /Challenges in the Ties:
- Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs):
- Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs) have mostly been covered by Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT).
- The UAE has 451 SPS notifications and 534 TBT notifications.
- The SPS notifications are mainly related to living poultry, meat, and processed food. In addition, the TBT notifications are mainly related to fish, food additives, meat, rubber, electrical machinery, etc.
- These measures hamper India’s exports to UAE.
- Arab – Iran Conflict:
- The differences between Iran and the Arab world hinder India’s engagement in the Middle-east region.
- Balancing the relationship sometimes results in the reluctance of some strategic agreements.
- Kafala System:
- The inhuman conditions imposed by the Kafala system on immigrants sometimes create differences between the two countries.
- Growing Intolerance in India:
- The recent crack caused due comments on Prophet Mohammed by members of the ruling party spoils the positive atmosphere between the two countries.
Conclusion:
- The UAE today is India’s closest partner in the Arab world, and fortunately, there is enough resilience in bilateral ties to withstand the recent convulsions.
- India and UAE continue to forge closer partnerships in these areas, building on their close and friendly relations and historical people-to-people connections. India-UAE has a strong energy partnership which is now acquiring a new focus on renewable energy.
- It will take a sustained public diplomacy effort to further improve the relations.
Pic Courtesy: The Hindu
Content Source: The Hindu