India-UAE CEPA: ‘Similar agreement being worked out with Gulf Cooperation Council’

Under CEPA, India and UAE The target is to increase bilateral trade in goods to $100 billion in the next five years. Goyal said a similar agreement is being worked out with the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Speaking about the sectoral gains, he said labour-intensive industries like textiles, gems and jewellery, leather goods and footwear and food processing industries would be among the most benefited.

Goyal said CEPA A balanced, fair, comprehensive and equitable partnership agreement, which will enhance market access for India, both in goods and services. “It will create jobs for our youth, open up new markets for our startups, make our businesses more competitive and boost our economy,” he said.

The CEPA was finalized and signed in a record time of just 88 days, and will come into force in less than 90 days by early May, the minister said. He said: “Around 90 per cent of the products exported from India to UAE will attract zero duty with the implementation of the agreement. There will be zero duty on 80 per cent of the lines of trade, the remaining 20 per cent does not affect our exports much, so it is a win-win agreement.”

What CEPA offers:

1) CEPA provides automatic registration and marketing authorization of Indian generic drugs within 90 days, once approved in any developed country. This will give Indian medicines access to a larger market.

2) Indian jewelery exporters will get duty-free access to the UAE, which currently levies 5 per cent customs duty on such products. This will significantly boost its jewelery exports as Indian design jewelery has a good reputation in the market. The gems and jewelery sector is expected to increase its exports to $10 billion by 2023.

3) CEPA will not only improve the competitiveness of Indian products but will also provide strategic advantage to India. “Since the UAE serves as a trading hub, the agreement will help provide us with market entry points in Africa, the Middle East and Europe,” the minister said.

Agreement with GCC in 2022:

Piyush Goyal said that the government looks forward to conclude an equal economic partnership agreement with the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council during this year itself.

He added that the GCC Secretary-General has expressed a desire to expedite negotiations and added, “We believe that a similar agreement on trade will be concluded with the GCC this year itself.”

The GCC is a federation of six countries in the Gulf region, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain, with a combined GDP of $1.6 trillion.