New Delhi : India and the UAE held the third meeting of the Joint Committee under the India–UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in New Delhi. The meeting was co-chaired by Ajay Bhadoo, Additional Secretary in India’s Department of Commerce, and Juma Al Kait, Assistant Undersecretary for International Trade Affairs from the UAE. Both sides welcomed the strong growth in bilateral trade, which reached USD 100.06 billion in FY 2024–25 — a 19.6% increase. This growth confirms the UAE’s role as one of India’s most important trading partners. The Joint Committee is the main platform for both countries to review progress, solve issues, and implement CEPA.
India and the UAE reviewed the progress made under CEPA and discussed several key topics, including market access, data sharing, gold import quota (Gold TRQ), anti-dumping issues, services, Rules of Origin, and BIS licensing. India also updated the UAE on its new transparent, competitive bidding process for allocating Gold TRQ.
Both sides also looked at recent high-level meetings between India’s Commerce & Industry Minister Shri Piyush Goyal and the UAE’s Dr. Thani in Mumbai and Dubai. They reaffirmed their goal of boosting non-oil and non-precious metal trade to reach USD 100 billion by 2030. Discussions also included cooperation on pharmaceutical regulations, resolving issues related to Certificates of Origin, better BIS coordination, and the early signing of an MoU on food safety and technical standards between APEDA (India) and MoCCAE (UAE).
The meeting ended with both countries agreeing to deepen trade facilitation, improve regulatory cooperation, enhance data sharing, and hold the next Services Subcommittee meeting soon. The UAE delegation also met Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal to discuss ways to make full use of CEPA. The visit reflects the commitment of both nations to strengthening trade, opening new market opportunities, and expanding their strategic partnership under CEPA.