India, UAE trade pact may come into force from May 1: Goyal

Key areas of India's interest are computer related services, audio visual, education, health, tourism, travel, professionals services like nursing, engineering, and accountancy.

The free trade agreement between India and the UAE is likely to come into effect from May 1 this year, under which domestic exporters of as many as 6,090 goods from sectors like textiles, agriculture, dry fruits, gem and jewellery would get duty-free access to the UAE market, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Sunday.

The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) was signed by India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in February which aims to boost bilateral trade to $100 billion in the next five years from current $60 billion.

The minister said that the detailed text of the pact has been released in public domain and now “we are trying to complete all our paperwork, all the customs notifications expeditiously. We hope it can be operationalised by May 1, 2022”.

Overall, the UAE is offering duty elimination on over 97% of its products which account for 99% of Indian exports here in value terms.

Immediate duty-free access covers all labour-intensive sectors such as gems and jewellery, textiles and apparel, agricultural and fish products, leather, footwear, and sport goods, Pharmaceuticals and Medical devices, and many engineering products.

"Currently, we are exporting about $26 billion worth of goods to the UAE , almost 90% of them will get total tariff (or customs duty) elimination on Day 1 itself. Going forward in the next 5-7 or ten years, the rest of the 9.5% (about 1,270 goods) will also get zero duty," Mr. Goyal said at the Dubai Expo here.

Explaining the importance of the pact, he said the UAE also opened doors for the rest of the Middle East, some parts of Africa and Europe.