Oman- India's Finance Minister Jaitley to launch Arab India Economic Forum

2015-10-13 12:48:05

(MENAFN- Muscat Daily)Dubai-

India's Minister of Finance Arun Jaitley will inaugurate the first Arab India Economic Forum (AIEF) scheduled to be held from November 16-17 in Dubai UAE where he will address a gathering of senior dignitaries government officials and business leaders from around the Arab region.

The AIEF will feature discussions on the extensive economic opportunities that can be leveraged between Arab nations and India for investment as exemplified by the activities of leading companies from the region like Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) DP World and Jumeirah Group.

The minister will shed more light on the business and investment opportunities in India linked to the 'Make in India' and 'Digital India' initiatives as well as in energy (traditional and renewable) infrastructure financial services and tourism including medical and wellness tourism.

The Forum will also address the policy framework and guidelines required to draw the attention of Arab investors and industrialists while providing a strong platform for Indian businesses aiming to explore the Middle East market a press release said on Tuesday.

The two-day event is expected to attract over 300 delegates mainly political and business leaders from the UAE Oman Saudi Arabia Qatar Kuwait Bahrain Jordan Egypt and India.

Jaitley will be joined by speakers from the Dubai Department of Economic Development and Mumbai Stock Exchange as well as invited speakers from Ministry of Tourism-India Ministry of Economy-UAE Ministry of Commerce and Industry-Saudi Arabia and Ministry of Economy and Commerce-Qatar.

Aimed at discussing strategies and solutions to meet investor challenges in India the Forum also builds on the new vigour which Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit brought to Indo-UAE relations in August 2015. His visit was followed by the India-UAE Joint Commission meeting on Technical and Economic Cooperation co-chaired by Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al Nahyan UAE's Foreign Minister and Sushma Swaraj Minister of External Affairs for India.

The Forum is being supported by Consulate General of India - Dubai with Bloomberg Businessweek Middle East as the media partner.
India is the UAE's second largest trade partner and trade between the two countries crossed US$59bn in 2013-14. Meanwhile Saudi Arabia was India's fourth largest trade partner recording bilateral trade worth US$$48.75bn.