India and the United Arab Emirates 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 the Department of Commerce, and Juma Al Kait, Assistant Undersecretary for International Trade Affairs of the UAE.
Both sides noted strong growth in bilateral trade, which reached USD 100.06 billion in FY 2024–25, marking a 19.6% increase. The UAE continues to be one of India’s most important trading partners. The Joint Committee meeting is the main platform for reviewing CEPA’s implementation, addressing challenges, and monitoring progress.
Officials reviewed developments across multiple areas, including market access, data sharing, allocation of Gold Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ), anti-dumping issues, services, Rules of Origin, and BIS licensing. India also informed the UAE about its recent decision to allocate Gold TRQ through a transparent competitive bidding process.
The two sides discussed recent high-level engagements, including meetings between Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and UAE Minister Dr. Thani Al Zeyoudi in Mumbai and Dubai. They reaffirmed their commitment to increasing non-oil and non-precious metal trade and working towards the USD 100 billion target by 2030.
Further discussions covered regulatory cooperation in pharmaceuticals, resolution of issues related to Certificates of Origin, BIS coordination, and the early signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on Food Safety and Technical Requirements between India’s APEDA and the UAE’s Ministry of Climate Change and Environment.
The meeting concluded with both sides agreeing to enhance trade facilitation, regulatory coordination, and data-sharing mechanisms, and to convene a Services Subcommittee meeting soon. The UAE delegation also met Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal to discuss ways to improve CEPA utilisation by both countries.
CEPA was signed between India and UAE on February 18, 2022, and the pact came into effect on May 1, 2022.
