Single Window Solutions & Virtual Trade Corridors to reduce friction in India-UAE trade

Mumbai, Oct 11 (KNN) India and UAE have decided to explore establishment of efficient and integrated Single Window Solutions and Virtual Trade Corridors to reduce costs and time involved in trade and investment related procedures.

This decision was made on Tuesday in Mumbai at the 10th meeting of the UAE-India High Level Joint Task Force on Investments.

It was co-chaired by Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, and Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Member of the Executive Council of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Discussions also took place on ways of enhancing bilateral investments in key sectors like food security, manufacturing, infrastructure, energy and technology.

This was the first meeting of the Joint Task Force since the signing of the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and unveiling of the Joint UAE-India Vision Statement in February 2022 during the virtual summit between PM Modi and  Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE. 

The co-chairs recognized the early trends of positive impact of the historic India-UAE CEPA on bilateral trade between the two countries since it entered into force in May 2022.

They urged businessmen on both sides to gain optimal benefits from the conducive trade ecosystem created under CEPA.

From the UAE side, it was agreed that the Department of Economic Development of Abu Dhabi will explore this area of cooperation with the concerned counterparties in India in order to agree a mutually beneficial implementation approach.

As a means of encouraging increased investment flows by UAE sovereign investment entities into India, the two sides reviewed UAE’s request with respect to providing tax incentives to certain UAE sovereign investment entities under existing UAE-India Tax Treaty, and India’s response to provide the same under the existing domestic tax laws of India.

It was agreed that bilateral discussions should continue to reach a mutually beneficial outcome which meets the policy objectives of both countries.

In this context, the support provided to UAE sovereign entities through the Finance Act 2020 and subsequent issuance of notifications for tax exemption was noted and appreciated.

An important area discussed was the creation of a mechanism for carrying out bilateral trade in national currencies.

Referring to the ongoing discussions between Reserve Bank of India and Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates on Unified Payment Interface (UPI) as a common digital payments platform, both sides agreed to continue discussions.  (KNN Bureau)