Dairy, tobacco among others excluded from India-UAE trade pact: Official

India has kept items such as dairy, fruits, cereals, vegetables, tea, coffee, tobacco, dyes,soaps, footwear petroleum, tyres, toys, scraps of aluminium, copper, processed marble, among others out of the trade pact with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), said an official.

Areas where manufacturing has been robust and sectors wherein the government has rolled out production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes have been put on the negative list, commerce secretary B V R Subrahmanyam told reporters on Saturday.

India and UAE on Friday signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) that is set to benefit almost 90 per cent of trade — both exports and imports — between both countries. The pact is expected to kick in over the next 60 days, after UAE completes its constitutional and legal processes.

“This is the first major FTA of a substantial nature, covering a broad spectrum of trade related issues by our government in the last seven years (barring an agreement with Mauritius),” Subrahmanyam said.

This is the first time that the pact has included chapters on intellectual property rights, government procurement, digital trade. “These (chapters) may be very small but they will set the tone and will convey India’s desire to be a large global player,” he explained.

While digital trade will cover areas including paperless trading, personal data protection, cross border flow of information, but dispute settlement provisions will not not apply to this. India also plans to include a digital trade chapter, with respect to inking a trade deal with other countries such as the United Kingdom, European, Canada.

The agreement will open up a plethora of opportunities for MSMEs and provide job opportunities to the tune of 1 million.

The trade pact will provide significant benefits to Indian and UAE businesses, including enhanced market access and reduced tariffs, an official statement said. CEPA is expected to increase in bilateral trade from the current $60 bn to $100 bn in the next five years.

The trade deal has also provided a permanent safeguard mechanism, which will safeguard exporters and businesses from both countries from any unwarranted surge in volumes of any particular product.

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