NEW DELHI, 14 November 2006 — Indian Finance Minister P. Chidambram has said that there was tremendous potential for economic interaction between India and the Arab world, but it had not been tapped properly so far.
Chidambaram was delivering the inaugural address at the historic two-day international conference on “Indo-Arab Relations: Partnership in Development” here yesterday at Vigyan Bhavan. The conference has been jointly organized by Indo-Arab Economic Cooperation Forum (IAECF), and the Institute of Objective Studies (IOS). It was presided over by former chief justice of India, Justice A. M. Ahmadi.
After the inaugural session two technical business sessions were held. The first was finance-banking and insurance chaired by G.N. Bajpayee, former chairman of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India. The second session was on infrastructure and energy which was chaired by Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav. In the evening Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh interacted with the delegates.
Chidambaram, while giving an authentic picture of the strides India is making, said exports to the Arab world and Northwest Africa had grown substantially over the last year from $14 billion to $17 billion, and imports (excluding oil) had gone up from $9 billion to $13.9 billion. The depth of the economic relationship was reflected by the presence of 3.5 million Indians in the Arab world (mainly Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar and Kuwait) and their annual remittances to the country came up to a staggering $24 billion a year. He said the Arab world has been home to great civilizations spanning 5,000 years, and India too has been similarly endowed. Interactions between the two in trade and commerce have continued without a break. There have been Indians who made seminal contribution to art and letters, religion and culture of Arabia. “Yet”, Chidambram noted, “No Arab company figures among the top 10 foreign investors in India.”
Chidambaram said India’s campaign would be “red-tape out and red carpet in” to welcome investors from Arab countries. The two sides have, however, been working toward improving the current investment climate with steps like bilateral investment protection agreements between India and half a dozen Arab countries. More such agreements would be signed soon. On the other hand, GCC countries are already the third largest trading partner of India.
Chidambram said that India’s robust manufacturing sector, its strength in steel, petroleum refining, petrochemicals, textile, IT, ITES and pharmaceuticals provided a viable range of options for foreign investment.
The guest speaker, former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia Dr. Anwar Ibrahim, said he had recommended India’s inclusion in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) keeping in view its brilliant performance as a democracy and a country whose all-around economic development was sustainable in the mid-term as well as in the long term.