By Sajeev K Peter

KUWAIT: The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), signed between the United Arab Emirates and India recently, will cover a wide spectrum of trade relations between the countries such as goods, services and digital trade, among others, and will allow 90 percent of India's exports a preferential access to the UAE, announced Indian Ambassador to Kuwait Sibi George.

Addressing a press conference at the Embassy of India, convened on the occasion of Holi - India's festival of colors - the ambassador pointed out that the agreement between the UAE and India is a comprehensive agreement, the first deep and full free trade agreement to be signed by India with any country in the past decade. The agreement will cover trade in goods, rules of origin, trade in services, technical barriers to trade (TBT), IPR, investment and digital trade, among other segments.

"The CEPA covers almost all the tariff lines dealt in by India (11,908 tariff lines) and the UAE (7,581 tariff lines) respectively. India will benefit from preferential market access provided by the UAE on over 97 percent of its tariff lines which account for 99 percent of Indian exports to the UAE in value terms, especially for all labor-intensive sectors such as gems and jewelry, textiles, leather, footwear, sports goods, plastics, furniture, agricultural and wood products, engineering products, medical devices, and automobiles," he said.

India will also be offering preferential access to the UAE on over 90 percent of its tariff lines, including lines of export interest to the UAE. "As regards trade in services, India has offered market access to the UAE in around 100 sub-sectors, while Indian service providers will have access to around 111 sub-sectors from the 11 broad service sectors," he pointed out.

Speaking about India's startup ecosystem, the ambassador said, "India has a success story when it comes to startups. Today, India is the third largest startup ecosystem, but our aspiration is to be the world's number one startup destination. Seven hundred startups that have showcased their innovation at 'Expo2020 Dubai' have all gone back enriched with newer opportunities and ideas for the future. He informed that a 'National Startup Awards 2022' is currently open. Last date to apply is April 15, 2022, he said.

He also spoke about the success of three Ts (trade, technology and tourism). "India has made a quantum jump in international trade. A new record of $400 billion of good exports has made a mark in the global arena, he added.