June is set as target date for trade expansion blueprint
Action plans would carry allies towards 60% increase
NEW DELHI // The UAE and India yesterday pledged to come up with action plans by June to achieve their shared goal of expanding trade by 60 per cent over the next five years.
In a joint statement, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi agreed that the action plans would “focus on identification of potential sectors and the impeding tariff and non-tariff barriers, exploring opportunities in services sector and formulating a sector-specific strategy to boost two-way trade and investments”. The UAE reaffirmed its interest in investing in infrastructure development in India, especially energy, power generation and transmission, defence production, industrial corridors and parks, railways, roads, ports, shipping and logistics, said the statement.
“The two leaders reviewed the progress in realising the US$75 billion (Dh275.438bn) target for UAE investments in India’s plans for rapid expansion of next-generation infrastructure development,” the statement said. Mr Modi invited the UAE’s participation in India’s national infrastructure investment master fund as an anchor investor. The leaders agreed that a working group should meet regularly to boost investment ties. India and the UAE shared trade of about US$50bn in each of the past two years.
The UAE is one of the leading investors in India in terms of foreign direct investments. It contributes significantly to India’s energy security and was the fifth- largest supplier of crude oil to India in those years. On Wednesday, the UAE and India signed a raft of memorandums of understanding and a couple of agreements that included a deal between the state-owned Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company ( Adnoc) on oil storage and management.
“This agreement aims to establish a framework for the storage of crude oil by Adnoc in India and to further strengthen the strategic relationship between the countries in the field of energy,” the Indian government said following delegation-level talks between Mr Modi and Sheikh Mohammed.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed and it was not immediately clear when Adnoc would start storing the oil in India.
An Indian government official confirmed that Adnoc had agreed to store six million barrels of oil at an underground facility at Mangalore in southern India that is part of New Delhi’s strategic reserve system.
India, hedging against energy security risks as it imports most of its oil needs, is building emergency storage in underground caverns to hold 36.87 million barrels of crude, or about 10 days of its average daily oil demand for last year. An agreement on comprehensive strategic partnership between India and the UAE was also signed on Wednesday.
“This is a general framework agreement which highlights the areas of bilateral cooperation identified under the comprehensive strategic partnership as agreed upon in the high level joint statements issued in August 2015 and February 2016,” the Indian government said. It did not elaborate.
‘ This agreement aims to establish a framework for the storage of crude oil by Adnoc in India Indian government statement