TravTalk Middle East Online Magazine
The second edition of the India-UAE Partnership Summit (IUPS) is set to take place from October 30-31, 2018 at Atlantis the Palm, Dubai with ministerial sessions between the two nations. The objective is to facilitate the private sector partnership in diverse areas.
Shehara Rizly
The second edition of IndiaUAE Partnership Summit is scheduled to be held at Atlantis the Palm, Dubai from October 30-31, 2018. The objective of the summit is to facilitate the private sector partnership in diverse areas. Speaking at a press conference, HE Navdeep Suri, High Commissioner of India to the UAE stated, “The second edition of India-UAE Partnership Summit in Dubai is an important sequel to the last year. We are applying the lessons learnt from last year and are focusing on specific sectors like SMEs and education. What is encouraging is the response we have received from five state governments confirming their participation with at least one state coming with its chief minister.”
When inquired about the newly-announced tourism projects between the two nations, Suri reiterated, “Attracting investments into tourism-related infrastructure is a real priority for the government of India and it is also a designated priority to many of the state governments that are keen to get foreign investments in these sectors. We are beginning to see that Business Leaders Forum (BLF) has taken the first step forward by attracting tourism infrastructure on an island in Andhra Pradesh. We have also seen Yusuff Ali of the Lulu Group establish India’s biggest convention center and hotels. It is now planning to establish additional convention centers in Visakhapatnam and Lucknow. In the UAE, there is a strong interest in different sectors of Indian tourism, particularly the mountains and the resorts and spas.”
HE Juma Mohammed Al Kait, Assistant Undersecretary—Foreign Trade Affairs, Ministry of Economy, UAE, said, “The UAE considers India the first trading partner with more than AED 195 billion trade exchange and this will influence private sector to explore new areas of cooperation, along with several other sectors. The purpose of the conference is to facilitate and introduce speakers from the government and private sectors to talk about laws, regulations, challenges the private sector faced and the ways to overcome those. The two governments aim to take their relation to a new high and thus have signed a number of agreements in sectors such as education, finance, economic cooperation.”
HE Vipul, Consul General of India—Dubai, commented that he is happy with the second edition of the event. Expressing joy, he said, “Last year, it was successful with ministers participating from different states of India and this year, five states have confirmed participation. BLF did a good job in not treating India-UAE Partnership Summit as a stand-alone meeting but following up on the discussions at the first IUPS in the past 12 months.”
Sudesh Aggarwal, Chairman of India-UAE Partnership Summit organising committee and Board Member of BLF, said, “The second edition of the India-UAE Partnership Summit will focus on sectors like education, SMEs and skill development and placement of manpower. We are also inviting the Indian states to aptly present their policies and investment projects as five Indian states — Assam, Delhi, Puducherry, Punjab and West Bengal — have confirmed their participation for the event. About 150 contingents are expected to arrive from the education sector.”
He further added, “BLF is actively engaged in promoting tourism-related projects which involve large-scale investment for developing a 500-acre island on the new capital in Amaravati, that is, a 18-hole pds standard golf course, a convention centre in a five-star hotel, luxury villas and apartments. This is an ecosystem island on the Krishna river and we are ready to facilitate any investment in the tourism sector.”
The India-UAE Partnership Summit is segmented into a number of brainstorming business sessions and panel discussions on current topics, while ministers of the five Indian states — Assam, Delhi, Puducherry, Punjab and West Bengal — will present investment opportunities in key projects within the states and seek investment from potential partners in the UAE. The emirates of Abu Dhabi and Sharjah will be joining the event as focused emirates of the UAE to showcase their projects to Indian investors. This is the only business conference of its kind to be proactively supported by the Government of India through the Embassy of India, Abu Dhabi and Consulate General of India—Dubai as well as the UAE Ministry of Economy. It is also the only bilateral summit where ministers of the Government of India as well as UAE will actively participate.
