India and the United Arab Emirates convened the third Joint Committee meeting under the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in New Delhi, reaffirming their commitment to strengthening economic cooperation. 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 of the UAE.
Both sides highlighted the robust growth in bilateral trade, which surged to USD 100.06 billion in FY 2024–25, reflecting a 19.6% increase over the previous year. The impressive expansion reinforces the UAE’s position as one of India’s most significant trading partners. The Joint Committee serves as the principal platform for reviewing CEPA’s implementation, addressing operational challenges, and guiding future initiatives.
During the discussions, officials assessed progress across several key domains, including market access, data-sharing arrangements, service-sector cooperation, Rules of Origin, anti-dumping concerns, BIS licensing, and the allocation of the Gold Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ). India apprised the UAE of its decision to implement a transparent competitive bidding mechanism for distributing the Gold TRQ.
The delegations also reviewed recent high-level interactions, including meetings between India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and UAE Minister Dr. Thani Al Zeyoudi in Mumbai and Dubai. Both sides reiterated their resolve to boost non-oil and non-precious metal trade and work toward achieving the USD 100 billion non-oil trade target by 2030.
Further discussions addressed regulatory cooperation in the pharmaceutical sector, improvements in the issuance and acceptance of Certificates of Origin, enhanced BIS coordination, and the expedited signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on Food Safety and Technical Requirements between APEDA and the UAE’s Ministry of Climate Change and Environment.
The meeting concluded with an agreement to deepen trade facilitation measures, strengthen regulatory alignment, improve data-sharing systems, and hold a Services Subcommittee meeting soon. The UAE delegation also met Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal to explore ways to enhance CEPA utilisation. CEPA, signed on February 18, 2022, became effective on May 1, 2022.
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