India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have successfully concluded negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA) which will shortly be placed before India’s Union Cabinet of Ministers for formal approval, government officials said on Tuesday, December 28.
The officials said that the seeking of approval of the cabinet has been expedited so that the agreement will be ratified soon, enabling the signing of FTA between the two countries during Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the UAE on January 6.
The FTA, called the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Participation Agreement (CEPA), will aim to bring down import duty on most Indian goods to five percent in UAE, the officials said.
The UAE is India’s third-largest trading partner with imports valued at $27 billion and exports at $16.7 billion in 2020-21.
Most significantly, the trade negotiations were completed in record time with the talks first commencing in September this year and agreement reached in December, the officials said.