NEW DELHI, 20 November 2004 — The first round of talks between India and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on boosting economic and commercial relations was held here yesterday. While the GCC delegation was led by Yousef T. Al-Saadon, deputy minister for economic and cultural affairs in Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, M.V.P. Shastri, joint secretary WANA (West Asia and North Africa), Ministry of Commerce and Industry headed the Indian delegation.
Al-Saadon, the GCC coordinator, told Arab News that this round of discussions will be followed by several meetings to give a formal shape to certain key areas of furthering economic and commercial relations between India and GCC which comprises six countries: Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Describing yesterday’s meeting as “important,” he said that it was held for the first time. A final touch to several agreements is expected to take place in near future after a few more meetings.
India and GCC are moving very fast toward enhancing their economic and commercial ties. Recently they signed an India-GCC Framework Agreement on Economic Cooperation (FAC). The agreement was signed by Kuwait Foreign Minister Mohammed Al-Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah on behalf of GCC and the Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry Kamal Nath on Aug. 25.
The salient features of FAC include: Both sides to consider ways and means for expanding and liberalizing their trade relations including initiating discussions on the feasibility of a Free Trade Area (FTA) between them and to make arrangements for setting up joint investment projects and facilitating corporate investments in various fields.
The meeting held yesterday is strongly suggestive of both India and GCC being desirous of exploring possibilities of giving a boost to their commercial and economic ties, including trade and investment.
Kamal Nath’s opinion that though bilateral trade between India and Gulf countries has shown consistent increase, it is not commensurate with the potential. During 2003-4, while India’s exports to GCC were $7.02 billion, imports from GCC, excluding oil, was $3.25 billion. The UAE is the second largest importer of Indian goods, after the US and Saudi Arabia is the 16th largest destination of Indian goods. Though substantial oil and gas reserves of the GCC region play a vital role in fulfilling India’s energy needs and are integral to country’s energy security, in recent ties, India-GCC trade having become extremely diversified is not limited to oil and oil products only.
India’s traditional economic ties with GCC have become even stronger in recent years, primarily due to increasing imports of oil and gas, growing trade and investment opportunities and presence of 3.5 million Indian workers in the region.
Major commodities exported to GCC member states from India include gems and jewelry, textile products, metal manufactures, machinery and instruments, iron and steel etc., while major non-oil items imported from GCC countries include gold, organic and inorganic chemicals, non-ferrous metals etc.
