India-UAE food corridor project to create 200k jobs

DUBAI / Emirates Business

Two million Indian farmers will benefit from the India-UAE food corridor project, which will also create an additional 200,000 jobs across India due to cumulative investments of more than $5 billion (AED18.35 billion) by the UAE in the next three years, said His Excellency Abdulla Ahmed Al Saleh, Undersecretary for Foreign Trade and Industry at the UAE Ministry of Economy (MoE).
He was speaking at the fourth edition of the annual UAE-India Economic Forum (UIEF), held in Dubai on Wednesday.
“India’s fertile land grows enough food to feed 1.2 billion people. However, 30 percent of food is wasted. The UAE could bring in the required investments for mega food processing parks, huge cold storage facilities, warehousing, logistics, trans- port facilities, so that the UAE entities can buy food when crop comes into the market benefitting both the UAE market and Indian farmers,” HE said, adding, “the UAE benefits from it and farmers also get a better price. It’s a win-win situation.”
The UAE is the largest Arab investor country in India, accounting for 81.2 per cent of the total Arab investments. The UAE investments into India are estimated to be around $10 billion including FDI of almost $5 billion.
The UIEF 2018, organized by UMS Conferences, is poised to explore the strengthening ties and bilateral trade relations between the two countries. His Highness Shaikh Saeed Bin Hasher al Maktoum, Deputy Chairman of Al Fajer Group, was the chief Guest at UIEF 2018.
“India is the second largest trading partner of the UAE. In 2017, trade relations between the UAE and India reached $53 billion, of which $35 billion was non-oil trade. The UAE is the third largest foreign trade partner of India after China and USA,” the Undersecretary said in his keynote address.
UAE investments in India are mostly concentrated in five sectors: construction 16 per cent, energy 14 percent, mining 10 percent, services sector 10 percent, computer software and hardware 5 percent, he noted.
“We are aware that, with India aggressively trying to attract foreign investments, the share of GCC countries remains miniscule, with the UAE accounting for more than 85 per cent of that share. But we see this as an opportunity to offer immense potential for cross borders investment,” he said, adding “We must also acknowledge that relations have developed significantly, especially in recent years, after the signing of agreements, partnerships and strategic dialogue between the two countries.”