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NEWS
NOV 15 - NOV 28 2017
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Dubai to Host India & UAE Biz Summit Indian Ministers Mr Nitin Gadkari and Alphons Kannanthanam to attend the meeting in Dubai BY ASIAN LITE NEWS
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ubai’s majestic Armani Hotel at Burj Khalifa will host India–UAE Partnership Summit (IUPS) on October 30 and 31 with a theme of Investment and Implementation. The Summit will deliberate about how important projects in India could be financed and executed with the participation of the local business houses of UAE. It will also review the trade and investment relations between the two countries in light of the Joint Statement adopted by the two sides during the visit of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in January 2017. The status of the flow of investment and strategic partnership will further be elaborated at a two-day summit. More than 800 Delegates from India and the UAE, including top government officials, private entrepreneurs and business leaders belonging to Corporate UAE and Corporate India, will attend the Summit. Indian Cabinet Minister Nitin Gadkari and Tourism Minister Mr Alphons Kannanthanam are among the top leaders attending the summit. This is the only business conference of its kind to be pro-actively supported by the Government of India through the Embassy of India, Abu Dhabi and Consulate General of India, Dubai as well as the UAE Ministry of Economy. IUPS is also the only such bilateral summit where Ministers of Government of India as well as UAE will be participating. Senior Ministers from two Indian states will also participate, the names of which will be announced later. India-UAE Partnership Forum is supported by knowledge partners, KPMG and attracted the interests of the media, including, Gulf News, Forbes Middle East, Sony TV and Times Now television channels. A large number of Indians and Indian companies have made investments in UAE across various Emirates. These include Lulu Group, NMC, Aster Group, Hinduja Group, Sobha Developers, Tatas, Mahindra, Dabur, Essar, Apollo tyres, Zee Entertainment, IFFCO etc. A number of Indian universities have opened international campuses in UAE and several banks have representative offices. “India and the UAE are
undergoing through an exciting time in our bilateral relationship that started with the historic visit of Prime Minister Modi to UAE in August 2015,” said Mr Navdeep Singh Suri, Ambassador of India to the UAE. “His visit was followed by the very successful visits of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and the Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces to India in 2016 and 2017. Today we are cooperating across a wide spectrum of areas, including such strategic areas as space and defence. India and the UAE are all set to leverage on our mutual strengths and create synergies to help both the nations achieve their respective national economic visions. We are also very confident of attracting a lot of investment from UAE to India given our close relationship and the opportunities that exist in India.” India is also looking at significant increase in UAE investments into the country especially on the infrastructure side. UAE has invested more than $4.7 billion in FDI into India since
2000. The Joint Statement of January 2017 envisaged $75 billion investments from UAE to India. An MOU on the framework for facilitating the participation of UAE Institutional Investors in National Infrastructure Investment Fund, with Abu Dhabi Investment Authority agreeing to contribute towards the NIIF Master Fund, has recently been signed. Indians companies and Indians are also one of the largest investors in the UAE economy by setting up companies, industries, warehouses and other facilities as well as in real estate. Indians invested Dh 20.4 billion into Dubai’s real estate in 18 months from January 2016 till June 2017, according to Dubai Land Department. This is on top of the Dh 20 billion invested by Indians in Dubai’s real estate in 2015. As an expatriate national business community, NRIs are also collectively the largest employer group in the private sector. The private sector of India and the UAE, especially the NRI business community has also come forward to support the strategic government-to-government partnership, first by creating a new pan-UAE business entity, the Business Leaders Forum (BLF) in March 2017. BLF, set
up under the direct guidance of the UAE Ministry of Economy, Embassy of India and Consulate General of India, is the new umbrella organisation of business leaders in the UAE. “Government vision can’t become successful without the active participation of the private sector,” said Mr Mr Vipul, Consul General of India. “It’s heartening to see that the private sectors of both the countries have come forward to support the strategic partnership vision of both the countries and we are pleased to extend our all-out support to this important event. IUPS will bring the public sector and private sectors of both India and the UAE and help create a new ecosystem that will help channel investment, boost trade and socio-economic cooperation that will see continuous engagement to ensure smooth flow of investment in to India and the UAE.” Dr Azad Moopen, President of Business Leaders Forum and Founder Chairman of Aster DM Healthcare Group, said: “As the platform formed by high-net worth NRIs and UAE nationals, the BLF wants to synergise our resources to contribute to the economies of India and the UAE and the IUPS will provide the first breakthrough in our quest to support both the economies in a bigger way and we are not talking in just setting up companies or industries – but taking part in midto large-size projects that will help the economies. “IUPS is one of many future initiatives to be undertaken by the BLF, which will elevate our role to a new level – and make us the strategic partner of India and the UAE. All of us at the BLF are more than happy to support the visions of our respective countries.” Mr Paras Shahdadpuri, Vice President of BLF and Chairman of Nikai Group of Companies, said: “Both India and the UAE are two major global economic powers to reckon with. India ranks 7th in GDP on nominal basis, but on Purchasing Power Parity basis, India ranks 3rd in the world after US and China. India and UAE have historic trade, economic, investment and even family relations for centuries. Indians are the biggest foreign investors in UAE. “There has been a paradigm shift in IndiaUAE relationship after the historic visit of Prime Minister Modi to UAE, which took place after three decades, from being traditional economic partners to now strategic partners. This visit has been reciprocated twice by His Highness Sheikh Mohd. Bin Zayed Al Nahayan in February 2016 and later as Chief Guest at India’s Republic Day in 2017. “This new G-to-G relationship has provided enormous boost in strategic fields such as in Food security, energy security, coopera-
tion in Space research, in Defence Production, etc. At this stage, it is important for private sector, and particularly we as NRIs to join hands with our Emirati investor friends to encourage investments in India. As investors in both the countries, we feel there is a strong need amongst ourselves to play a greater role in reshaping the destinies of our two great countries. “India not only has a lot of solid resources, scientific capabilities, research and development, but also a large pool of soft power – including Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH) as well as Indian cuisine and culture – that could create new opportunities for both the countries,” Shahdadpuri added. Mr Sudesh Aggarwal, Board Member and Sector Chairman-Investments of BLF, Chairman of Giant Group & India Trade and Exhibition Centre (ITEC), said: “IUPS will be a game-changing summit and will redefine the role of the private sector in realising the governments’ vision. The event will help generate new ideas on how the UAE’s private sector businesses can leverage their complementary strengths to raise funds to finance major infrastructure projects. “The event will be full of surprises, announcements and will be full of real-time project funding initiatives that will change the way private sector funding is carried out. The Summit will see government authorities finding a strong desire and participation by the private companies willing to share the burden of the public sector and create a genuine public-private partnership that will reduce governments’ financial burden and see the private sector extend its hands to governments.”