DUBAI: India and the UAE compliment each other in areas of business growth and the private sectors are ready to support the two governments, a top company executive has said here.
The UAE is the 10th largest FDI source market for India with cumulative FDI reaching USD 4.76 billion in the last 17 years from April 2000 till March 2017.
India's National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) signed an investment agreement worth USD 1 billion with a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA).
As part of the agreement, ADIA will become the first institutional investor in NIIF's Master Fund and a shareholder in National Investment and Infrastructure Limited, the NIIFÂ’s investment management company.
The move is widely seen as part of the USD 75 billion investment programme announced by the UAE in August 2015 during a visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Abu Dhabi.
"This marks a new beginning in our bilateral relationship that is going to be more specific and strategic in the years to come where India and the UAE compliments each other on areas of future growth and national security," said Dr Azad Moopen, President of Business Leaders Forum and Founder Chairman of Aster DM Healthcare Group.
"We, as representative of the private sectors, are also getting ready to support the two governments realise their vision and objectives with our own investment initiatives – something that we will announce at the two-day India-UAE Partnership Summit (IUPS)," he said.
India's Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) recorded USD 61 million FDI inflow from the UAE in the April-June quarter this year.
The UAE and India share age-old ties whose foundation lies in trade and investment. The annual two way trade between the two countries today stands at about USD 53 billion and the leadership of the two countries is committed to increase it by 60 per cent over the next 5 years.
While India remains the UAE's top trading partner, the UAE is India's third largest trading partner.