NAMASKARAM

GOOD MORNING

His Excellency Mr Achuthanandan, Chief Minister of Kerala and Chairman of the Non Resident Keralities, cabinet Ministers, officials of NORKA, Ladies and Gentlemen.

It gives me great pleasure to be in Kerala in your midst today. India is such a wonderful country with so much of diverse culture and history. The UAE enjoys a very close and friendly relations with the state of Kerala and its people.

This is my first official visit to the state 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 in1940'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 Kerala 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 Kerala.

• 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 and nearly 50% of them are Keralities.

• 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.

• Out of the 304 flights operated by UAE airlines per week, 75 flights per week are only from Kerala which represents approximately 25 % of the total flights operated. Emirates, Etihad and Air Arabia operate 28, 17 and 30 flights respectively from Kerala to UAE.

• I am told that this is set to increase further by December 2009 with Emirates planning to further increase its flights from Kerala.

• 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.

Kerala and India have an excellent ambassador in Mr Yusuff Ali. Mr Yusuff Ali, the son of Kerala is very highly regarded and respected in the UAE government and business circles. Mr Yusuff Ali has contributed immensely to the growing good economic and commercial relationship between the two countries.  And he continues to play a key and very active role in furthering this relationship.

[I notice that Mr Yusuff Ali is now a regular visitor to the capital Delhi, probably he would like to the Ambassador in Delhi !!!]

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Finally, I would like to mention that people of India and particularly our friends from the south of India, mainly Kerala 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 H E Chief Minister and Mr Yusuff Ali 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 Kerala again soon to see the beautiful environment and places of Kerala.

Thank You

NANNI

ENDS