Over the six-month duration of the expo, the Indian pavilion will provide India the opportunity to showcase its ancient culture; its cutting-edge technology in areas like space; its diversity of states and UTs; its plans in sectors ranging from renewable energy to urban communities, health and wellness to food, agriculture and livelihoods; and its spirit of enterprise through the participation of leading business groups.
The next few weeks are going to see a lot of attention devoted to India’s ties with the UAE. At one level, the ongoing IPL matches will keep eyeballs glued to screens bringing the latest action from the cricket grounds in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah. The IPL final in Dubai on October 15 will be followed by the ICC T-20 World Cup, also in the UAE.
As travel restrictions gradually ease, be prepared to see the good and the great land up in Dubai for the India-Pakistan game on October 24 and for other key matches. The decision of the hosts Board of Control for Cricket in India to relocate both the second half of the IPL and much of the ICC T-20 World Cup in the UAE reinforce the country’s position as the preferred fallback option for Indian cricket. It also speaks volumes of the UAE’s sports infrastructure and the comfort level of working with partners who readily agreed to take responsibility for organising back-to-back sporting events at a time when the pandemic was still raging.
But there’s a lot more than cricket that will occupy our attention. After a year’s delay on account of the Covid-induced lockdowns, Dubai Expo opens to the world today. Billed by its organisers as ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’, the expo will feature the participation of a record 191 countries and enable them to showcase their technological prowess and ambition around three central themes — sustainability, mobility and opportunity.
Covering 4,600 sq metres of the area, the four-storeyed India Pavilion is not just one of the largest in the expo but also one of the most high-tech. The kinetic motion of the panels that constitute its façade on two sides allows the flexibility to project a range of themes that unambiguously convey an India on the move. It is also one of the only pavilions that will remain in place once the expo goes into the legacy phase. While the other pavilions will be dismantled and taken away, the India Pavilion will stay as a permanent venue to promote Indian technology, innovation and culture.
Over the six-month duration of the expo, the pavilion will provide India the opportunity to showcase its ancient culture; its cutting-edge technology in areas like space; its diversity through the participation of several states and union territories; its ambitious plans in sectors ranging from renewable energy to urban communities, from health and wellness to food, agriculture and livelihoods; and its spirit of enterprise through the participation of many leading business groups.
It will host tech start-ups and business leaders, national icons and women entrepreneurs, star speakers and young achievers, and of course, a series of top officials from the union government and the participating states.
Each morning will begin with a wellness session featuring yoga and spiritual music and most evenings will feature a cultural performance. Major cultural shows have been planned for the opening of the pavilion, for festivals like Dasehra, Diwali, Lohri, Basant Panchami and Holi and the Republic Day will be celebrated in style.
Meanwhile, discussions on an ambitious free trade agreement with the UAE have begun in earnest. For reasons linked with Gulf politics, it will be called the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and the visit of a multi-disciplinary delegation led by the UAE’s Minister for Foreign Trade from September 22 to 24 provided an opportunity for substantive discussions.
The UAE is India’s third largest trading partner after China and the US and bilateral trade has hovered around the $60-billion mark. India’s merchandise exports of around $30 billion annually make it our second largest overseas market.
The two sides want to conclude the CEPA talks by December and are aiming to sign the agreement by March 2022 with the ambition of raising merchandise trade to $100 billion and doubling trade in services to $15 billion within five years. This could benefit a range of Indian products, such as precious metals, stones, gems and jewellery, textiles and garments, food items, engineering goods and chemicals and refined petroleum products.
The annual ministerial meeting of the High-Level Task Force on Investment is also due to be held in Dubai on October 2. Led by the Minister of Commerce and Industry from India side and the Managing Director of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) from the UAE, the task force has played an important role in removing procedural and regulatory obstacles and identifying investment opportunities in emerging areas.
With assets of over $800 billion, the ADIA is the world’s second largest sovereign fund and a major investor into sectors like renewable energy, highways, ports, logistics and real estate and in the financial markets. It is also an anchor investor in India’s National Infrastructure Investment Fund with an initial investment of $1 billion.
The strong economic relationship is complemented by a convergence of interests on hot-button issues like Afghanistan. While the UAE, along with Saudi Arabia, was one of the three countries that recognised the Taliban 1.0 in 1996, the present situation presents a stark contrast. Over the last decade, the UAE has consciously embraced the principle of religious tolerance and made a series of bold moves to reflect its commitment to inter-faith harmony.
The land provided by the royal family of Abu Dhabi for a major Hindu temple, the project to build a House of Abraham that will juxtapose a mosque, a church and a synagogue in the same complex, and the establishment of full diplomatic ties with Israel are examples of the change in the UAE.
The return of the Taliban in Kabul and the possibility that Afghanistan could again emerge as a haven for terrorist groups and a fountainhead for the most extreme interpretation of Islam is a subject of substantive discussions with a country that has become our most trusted partner in the Middle East.
