Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma met UAE Ambassador to India Abdulnasser Alshaali, and the two discussed the means by which the UAE can help strengthen the relationship with Assam in areas of agriculture and food processing, education, innovation, logistics and connectivity, and sustainable tourism.
- UAE pursuing more investment and trade in Assam
- Engage in logistics, agriculture and sustainable tourism
- Jogighopa Multimodal Park is to be one of the keys to connectivity in the region.
- CEPA activates the trade between UAE and India
“UAE is keen to expand trade, boost connectivity and explore investment opportunities in Assam. We had a good discussion on how the Northeast could accelerate the close collaboration between our nations.”
Abdulnasser Alshaali has paid a visit to Assam, as this is an opportunity to hold bilateral economic, trade and investment cooperation.
“Assam is a key gateway to Northeast India and offers immense potential for partnership with the UAE across a diverse range of sectors. It was a pleasure to exchange views with Hon. Chief Minister Shri Himanta Biswa Sarma on how we can work together to unlock this potential. The UAE is keen to expand its partnership with this critically important state and to support its ongoing development.”
– Abdulnasser Alshaali, Ambassador.
India is developing the Jogighopa Multimodal Logistics Park by integrating road, rail, and inland waterway-based transportation. Both sides emphasized the opportunities to increase regional trade connectivity and expand cross-border trade between the UAE, India, and Southeast Asia, recognizing India and Assam as strong potential hubs.
They also highlighted that the UAE-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) offers a robust platform for cooperation in Assam’s key sectors—food processing, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, textiles and wellness, and handloom and handicrafts.
Bilateral trade between UAE and India continues to grow and virtually doubled since the ratification of the CEPA in February 18, 2022, at the high level of both non-oil and oil bilateral trade. To date, non-oil trade is about 28 times more than the cost to oil trade (at the high level of non-oil trade, it totaled to 57.8 billion dollars in FY 2023-24, whereas the cost of the oil trade is 2 billion dollars in FY 2023-24). Such improvements indicate the achievements of the CEPA in the diversification of the bilateral trade basket and the move towards the bilateral non-oil trade objective of one hundred billion dollars by 2030.