Dubai Customs organized a virtual meeting with an Indian business and trade delegation as part of their Ertibat Initiative, which aims at enhancing links and cooperation with diplomatic missions and trade partners. The meeting took place with the presence of H.E. Ahmed Mahboob Musabih, CEO of Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation, Director General of Dubai Customs and H.E. Aman Bouri, Indian Consul General to the UAE.
Dr. Bouri thanked Dubai Customs for organizing these meetings, which serve the interests of both parties and facilitate trade and investment activity between India and the UAE.
“Trade between the UAE and India shows signs of remarkable recovery and growth, thanks to the world’s procedures and measures taken during the last year which led to slow down the spread of the pandemic.
India and the UAE are continuing their negotiations on the comprehensive economic partnership agreement, which would further strengthen ties, expand economic and investment possibilities and usher in a new era of strategic collaboration between the two countries. Such an agreement is expected to increase mutual trade of commodities to $100 billion and services to $15 billion in the next five years. Many Indian businesspersons are moving their headquarters or branches to Dubai. EXPO2020 Dubai means a lot to us in India and we are the largest nationality in the exhibition.”
On his part, H.E. Ahmed Mahboob Musabih welcomed the Indian delegation highlighting the strong historic relation between the UAE and India.
“India is Dubai’s second largest trade partner, and the emirate’s trade with India touched AED67 billion in the first half of 2021 (AED32b for imports, AED19bn for exports, and AED16bn for re-exports), growing 74% from AED39 billion in the corresponding period in 2020.”
Major commodities include diamonds at AED20.8bn, gold at AED10.4bn, petroleum oils at AED4.3bn, and telecoms at AED4bn.
Musabih highlighted major achievements during 2021 and the Department’s vision for the next year.
“We continuously develop our work models to support our partners’ trade activities and reduce the cost of their operations. Any success we make is also a success to our partners. With this vision always in mind, we achieved 98% on the client happiness index.”
In the meeting, presentations on the Authorized Economic Operator, and the Cross Border e-Commerce Platform were delivered.