Indian businessmen in UAE see boost in trade as Abu Dhabi Crown Prin

08/02/2016 07:32 AST

The Indian businessmen in the UAE expect the forthcoming visit of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces to boost trade ties between the two countries and investments in sectors such as infrastructure and energy.

“We expect to see more cooperation in tourism and infrastructure sectors. India is planning to build smart cities with emphasis on roads and bridges. This is where Dubai’s experience in the real estate sector can be handy,” said Kulwant Singh, President of Indian Business and Professional Council (IBPC) in Dubai, adding that the visit will also give an opportunity for Indian companies to invest in Dubai as it gets ready to host the World Expo in 2020.

The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi will begin his three-day visit to India starting on Wednesday, according to a statement on WAM. Accompanying him would be a high-level delegation consisting of Shaikhs, senior officials and ministers.

The visit will be the continuation of a number of high profile visits by the leaders of both the countries in the last one year, which began with the visit of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the UAE in August.

In September, the UAE Foreign Minister Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan went to New Delhi to take part in India-UAE Joint Commission Meeting on Technical and Economic Cooperation with a high-level delegation consisting of senior officials and captains of the industry.

India’s Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley visited the UAE in October and November respectively. The ministers held discussions with the top leadership of the country and invited businessmen to invest in India.

Benefit
Y Sudhir Kumar Shetty, President of UAE Exchange said the upcoming visit will benefit both countries in the long run.

“This is an important trip that will take bilateral ties to a new level. The UAE will be keen to start projects in renewables, infrastructure and power generations sectors.”

During his visit to the UAE in September, Modi toured Masdar City, a low carbon city located in the outskirts of Abu Dhabi and showed interest in having similar projects in India based on the clean energy concept.

A top executive of a Sharjah based petro chemical company praised the growth of India and said the UAE will be investing in a safe and stable market.

“Post slowdown of Chinese growth story, India will be growth engine for the world and it will make immense sense for UAE to invest in the safe and growing Indian market,” said Thangapandian Srinivasulu, Executive Director of Gulf Petrochem.

He said India is opening up oorts, infrastructure and other segments in a big way, and UAE companies like Dubai Ports, Emaar etc, have a good opportunity to get a share of this.

“One of the segments the UAE should focus on is agricultural segment, where UAE can take over large tracts of land, invest in agriculture, set up warehouses and make India the supplier of agro products,” Srinivasulu said.

Gulfnews