Accepting the fact that India is emerging as the new frontier of investment opportunities with the new initiatives by the government to facilitate trade and investment and also to boost economic relations, UAE agreed to increase their investment in India to $75 billion (about Rs 5 lakh crore) through the establishment of UAE-India Infrastructure Investment Fund. Besides, to enhance economic cooperation both the countries agreed to increase bilateral trade between them by 60% over next five years and also signed strategic partnership in energy sector including through UAE's participation in petroleum sectors in India and tie-ups in the third countries. This move will support investment in India's plans for rapid expansion of next generation infrastructure, especially in railways, ports, roads, airports and industrial corridors and parks.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Zayed AI Nahyan also agreed to facilitate participation of Indian companies in infrastructure development in the UAE. Both the countries will work together for promoting scientific collaboration, which include the area of renewable energy, sustainable development, arid agriculture, desert ecology, urban development and advanced healthcare.
In order to create a vibrant industrial base in UAE which could also benefit Indian enterprises, the UAE will tap India's expertise in Small and Medium Enterprises. Further, cooperation would be strengthened between UAE's increasingly sophisticated educational institutions and India's universities and higher research institutions.
India-UAE trade, valued at $180 million per annum in the 1970s, whereas today it is around $60 billion, making the UAE, India's third-largest trading partner for the year 2014-15 after China and the US.