NOMOSKAR

GOOD AFTERNOON

Mr Mukul Somany, Chairman, CII Eastern Region, Mr Saugat Mukherjee, Regional Director CII (Eastern Region), distinguished guest, Ladies and Gentlemen.

It gives me great pleasure to be in Kolkata in your midst today. India is such a wonderful country with so much of diverse culture and history. The state of West Bengal and in particular the city of Kolkata is so very rich in art and culture. I am told the city of Kolkata is often referred to as the "cultural capital of India". The UAE enjoys a very close and friendly relation with India and its people.

This is my first official visit to the state of West Bengal and I am looking forward to building and enhancing our relationship further in the coming years.

Personally, I have a very emotional attachment to India. My father lived in India in 1940's and was a merchant and mixed with the Arab community. My uncle had the opportunity to visit India and studied in a Mumbai school. I visited that school in Mumbai last week. It was a very emotional and nostalgic moment for me.

I take this opportunity to put on record the deep appreciation of the people of UAE for the people of India and their contributions in the building of the UAE.

I thought it would be useful to give you some statistics that reflects the growing relations between UAE and India and in particular with the State of West Bengal.

• Of the 5 million population of UAE, 30 per cent (1.75 million) are Indians and 1.2 million inhabit in Dubai and Northern Emirates.

• UAE is the most favourable destination for Indians searching opportunities abroad.

• Indians constitute 42.5% of the labour force in UAE.

• In 2008, despite the global downturn UAE remained single most important destination for Indian workers followed, by Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Malaysia and Bahrain.

• Total remittances to India from the UAE in 2008-09 was about USD 10 -12 billion, (which comes through traceable/officials channels) which is around one third of all the total remittances from the GCC which is around USD 32-25 billion.

• It is estimated that there are over 475 flights per week between India and UAE from various destinations. Out of this three UAE national airlines (Emirates, Etihad and Air Arabia) operate about 304 flights per week which represents approximately 64% of total flights operated in this sector.

• UAE National carrier Emirates operates daily flight from Kolkata to Dubai.

• The Indian community in U.A.E. has earned a reputation for hard work, diligence and great enterprise. They have excelled in every area and in whatever position they work.

Let me now turn to UAE-India trade and economic relations
The UAE-India trade and economic relations are very strong and growing faster despite the global meltdown. The UAE-India trade continues to grow impressively and I am pleased to inform you that UAE is now India's number one trading partner, outstripping China and USA.

• The total bilateral trade between the two countries for the financial year 2008-2009 was almost USD 44.5 billion, compared to USD 29.1 billion during the same period 2007-08, an increase of 53%.
• UAE accounts for about half of India's total trade in the Gulf region.
• In 2008-09, India's trade with the six member Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) reached US$87 billion, putting it ahead of the European Union (USD 81 billion) and ASEAN countries (USD 45 billion).
• UAE is the 10th largest foreign direct investor in India with the total cumulative investments of more than USD 5 billion in India through FDI and FII routes.
• India is the third largest investor in the UAE.

So what is our engagement with the State of West Bengal so far? I looked at our available records and I am pleased to say that we have DP Port, have investment plans in the state of West Bengal. DP World along with its local partner signed agreements with the Government of West Bengal for development of Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and a Port at Kulpi, south of West Bengal.

The total investment for Phase-I of port is USD 180 million and the SEZ is USD 220 million. When, fully completed the estimated investment will be of the order of USD 400 million. That is excellent news. Therefore, I said if one company is investing USD 400 million in the state, obviously there would be other opportunities for UAE companies to tap into. And that is the reason I decided to come to Kolkata and speak to the business community and find out what are those real opportunities. I would like to listen to you all and find out about those opportunities.

As you all would probably be aware that the growing Indian economy which has huge market potential is attracting investment from the UAE in various sectors like minerals and metals, real estate, infrastructure, aviation, ports, telecom and energy. And UAE companies are on the look out for good opportunities to invest in India. As I said earlier, UAE is the top 10 investor in India and we would like to work with you all and move up the ladder as top investor in India.

The UAE remains a favourable destination for global commerce, particularly for manufacturers. World-class facilities, low labour and energy costs, advantageous tax laws and political stability all contribute to maintaining the country’s status as a manufacturing haven. The diversification of the national economy towards non-oil growth areas has led to rapid industrial development, which in turn has expanded existing economic segments and continues to create new ones.

Here I would like to quote World Bank's latest report "Doing Business in the Arab World 2009", which says the United Arab Emirates is the easiest country to do business in the Middle East. The report ranked UAE in the 14th place globally in its assessment of 181 countries.

UAE economy presents numerous opportunities for the Indian industry to invest in the UAE across all sectors. My organization and the Ministry of Foreign Trade are exerting extra effort to enhance trade relations among our neighbours and the region. We have plans in the next few months to reach out to Indian industry across India and share information on doing business in UAE and the opportunities in UAE. The details of the events will shortly go on our Embassy website: www.uaeembassy-newdelhi.com

I am pleased to inform you all present here that we have opened a Trade and Investment Section in the Embassy in New Delhi. They will be pleased to assist you with information and details on UAE economic and commercial sector.

I also take this opportunity to inform you all that the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) is organizing an international conference on "India-UAE Partnership: Investments, Opportunities & Synergies" in Mumbai on 29 October. The conference will focus on India-UAE financial sector and the investment opportunities that both countries offer. A strong 25 member DIFC delegation is led by its Governor and Vice Chairman of UAE Central Bank HE Dr Omar Bin Sulaiman. I extend invitation to all of you who have business interest in the financial sector to attend the conference. A copy of programme is available with us and you can collect the same after the event or we can send you a copy.

Finally, I would like to mention that people of India have stood by us in difficult times that the one we all are facing currently with the global financial and economic crisis. I would like to add here that this crisis was not of UAE but UAE was affected by this. Let me tell you my friends, the good old times are returning and we all will be back again with lot of vigor and build a much stronger relationship with each other.

I thank CII for their help and support for organising this meeting. I am confident that with all your support we can take the UAE-India relationships to a much higher level. I look forward to working with you all in the coming years and hope to return to West Bengal again soon to meet with government officials and industry as well to take our co-operation to next level.

Thank You

Dhonyabad