New Delhi: India and UAE on Monday agreed to set a target of USD 100 billion of trade in non-petroleum products by 2030 from the USD 48 billion at present.

Union Commerce Minister said that India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have agreed to more than double the trade in non-petroleum products by 2030, read a Ministry of Commerce & Industry press release.

India and UAE successfully held the 1st Meeting of the Joint Committee (JC) of the India-UAE CEPA. During the JC, both sides, inter-alia, reviewed the bilateral trade under the CEPA, agreed to operationalize the established committees/sub-committees/technical council under the CEPA, agreed on mutual exchange of preferential trade data on a quarterly basis for effective monitoring of the CEPA.

Both countries discussed various matters related to the implementation of the Agreement and agreed on addressing any issue that may potentially act as a hindrance to CEPA implementation or its usage by businesses on both sides, agreed on the creation of a new sub-committee on Trade in Services, and also agreed to set-up a UAE-India CEPA Council (UICC) as a B2B collaboration mechanism, with a focus on MSMEs and start-ups, for building greater economic linkages and optimizing CEPA benefits.

Both sides also exchanged views on WTO matters. The 13th Ministerial Conference of the WTO (MC13) is scheduled to be held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, during the week of 26 February 2024, added the release.

A high-level delegation from the UAE, comprising senior officials of the Government of UAE and representatives from the business community of the UAE, led by Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade of the UAE, visited India on 11-12 June 2023.

The agreed minutes of the 1st Meeting of the Joint Committee (JC) of the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement was signed between the two sides in the presence of the Ministers today, added the release.

During the JC, both sides agreed to operationalize the established committees, sub-committees and technical council under the India-UAE CEPA. Furthermore, they also decided to set up a UAE-India CEPA Council (UICC) as a B2B collaboration mechanism, focussing on start-ups and MSMEs.

Dr Zeyoudi called on Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Minister. The visit also marked the India leg of the 1st Anniversary of the Implementation of the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). Both the Ministers addressed a Joint Press Conference on the achievements and the successful conclusion of the 1st meeting of the Joint Committee, added the release.

Both the Ministers addressed a Joint Press Conference on successfully concluding the first meeting of the Joint Committee. They also participated in a B2B event organized by the Department of Commerce in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

"The initial gains have already started accruing from the Agreement with bilateral trade between India and the UAE growing at around 16.5 per cent and touching an all-time high of around USD 84.84 billion during FY 2022-23," Union Commerce Minister emphasized during the meeting.

Piyush Goyal also said that India's exports to the UAE had witnessed a 12 per cent growth and reached USD 31.6 billion in 2022-2023.