India, UAE seek investments in corporate bonds

India’s Finance Minister P. Chidambaram met top UAE officials on Sunday and discussed the scope of investment in the infrastructure sector and corporate bonds.
General Shaikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, Abu Dhabi crown prince and deputy supreme commander of the UAE Armed Forces, received the minister at Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi with many other top dignitaries.
General Shaikh Mohamed and Chidambaram discussed bilateral relations between the UAE and India, and ways to promote them in service of the common interests of the two friendly countries and their peoples.
The meeting emphasized the importance of continuing cooperation between the two countries in all spheres, in education, investment and trade in particular, and the tapping of the expertise and potentials of both countries to support joint projects in the public and private sectors.
Indian Embassy sources disclosed that both countries have agreed in principle to start negotiating Bilateral Investment Protection Agreement (BIPA).
“Both sides have agreed to start the negotiations next month,” said M.K. Lokesh, Indian Ambassador to the UAE, who was present at Chidambaram’s meetings with UAE officials.
Chidambaram also met with Shaikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al-Makthoum, UAE finance minister and deputy ruler of Dubai, in a separate meeting in Dubai.
Currently, India and the UAE are largest trading partners to each other with $ 74.723 billion bilateral trade during the 2012-2013 financial year ended in March. However, India is trying to attract more investments from the UAE.
Chidamabram, who arrived in the UAE on Saturday, met Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) Managing Director Shaikh Hamed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan.
The Indian ambassador said the two sides discussed ways to strengthen investments in each others’ countries and the finance minister sought more investment from the UAE, especially in the infrastructure and corporate debt sectors.
The visit is part of Chidambaram’s global tour to attract foreign investments. He has held similar investor meets in Hong Kong, Singapore, the UK, Germany, France, Japan, Qatar, Canada and the United States to attract foreign investment into India.
Chidambaram has been emphasizing that India offers “unlimited” investment opportunities in the infrastructure sector and the country is looking at spending around $ 1 trillion over five years in areas such as roads, airports and seaports.
India is betting big on foreign resources to finance the Current Account Deficit (CAD), which had widened to a record high of 6.7 percent in October-December quarter of 2012-13. — With input from agencies