MUMBAI:  Piyush Goyal, a member of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi's Executive Council and the Minister of Commerce and Industry for the Union The 10th meeting of the high-level joint task group on investments between the UAE and India was co-chaired by Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Tuesday. 

The UAE-India High-Level Joint Task Force on Investments had its tenth meeting in Mumbai. Since the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between India and the UAE was signed and the Joint UAE-India Vision Statement was unveiled in February 2022 during the virtual summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India and President of the UAE Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, this was the Joint Task Force's first meeting.

To develop trade, business, and economic links between the UAE and India, the Joint Task Force was founded in 2013. The CEPA is a significant trade agreement that will change the economic, trade, and investment links between the two countries and spur economic growth. Both of these historic sites offer a clear road map for the expedited further development of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two nations.

Speaking at the meeting Goyal said, "We made the decision to expedite the CEPA negotiations at the most recent Joint Task Force meeting, and we did so in an unprecedented 88 days. I'm confident that both sides will put similar emphasis on the discussions we had today on topics like bilateral trade in national currencies and food security, which are both advantageous to both parties." "India-UAE relations are gaining speed like never before. We have many prospects for collaboration and growing our investments, particularly in the crucial sectors of infrastructure and technology, particularly Fintech" he said.

According to a formal statement issued by the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the co-chairs of the Joint Task Force acknowledged the early positive trends of the historic India-UAE CEPA's impact on bilateral trade between the two nations since it entered into force in May 2022. The co-chairs urged businesspeople on both sides to take full advantage of the favourable trade ecosystem established by CEPA. According to the ministry, the co-chairs also took notice of developments regarding the CEPA, such as the creation of the Joint Committee and associated subcommittees.

The discussions for the bilateral investment treaty between India and the UAE were discussed by the two delegations. There have been twelve rounds of negotiations thus far. Both parties agreed that significant progress could have been made since the negotiations began and reaffirmed their commitment to moving the process along quickly in order to reach an early conclusion of a fair and beneficial agreement. The topic of boosting bilateral investments in important industries like manufacturing, infrastructure, energy, and technology was also discussed. It was decided that to decrease the time and costs associated with trade and investment-related procedures, the relevant authorities in both countries will investigate the construction of effective and integrated single window solutions and virtual trade corridors. It was decided that the Department of Economic Development of Abu Dhabi would study this area of collaboration with the relevant counterparties in India in order to come to an execution strategy that would benefit both sides.

The two sides reviewed the UAE's request to provide tax incentives to specific UAE sovereign investment entities under the existing UAE-India Tax Treaty and India's response to provide the same under the existing domestic tax laws of India in order to encourage increased investment flows by UAE sovereign investment entities into India. It was decided that bilateral conversations should go on in order to find a solution that is advantageous to both parties and fulfills their respective policy goals. In this connection, it was recognised and welcomed that the Finance Act 2020 and subsequent notifications of tax exemptions supported UAE sovereign entities. The development of a method for conducting bilateral trade in national currencies was a significant topic considered. Both parties decided to carry on their negotiations regarding the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) as a single digital payments platform, which are currently being held between the Reserve Bank of India and the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates.

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