India, UAE review CEPA progress, target $100bn in non-oil trade

Special India, UAE review CEPA progress, target $100bn in non-oil trade
India’s Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal addresses a conference meeting with UAE Foreign Trade Minister Thani Al-Zeyoudi in Mumbai, Aug. 30, 2025. (Ministry of Commerce and Industry)
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Updated 02 September 2025

India, UAE review CEPA progress, target $100bn in non-oil trade

India, UAE review CEPA progress, target $100bn in non-oil trade
  • UAE, Indian ministers highlight digital infrastructure, healthcare as emerging sectors
  • Non-oil exports from India to UAE reached $27.4bn in fiscal year 2023–24

NEW DELHI: India has announced plans to strengthen its Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with the UAE, aiming to boost non-oil bilateral trade to $100 billion by 2030, amid changing global trade dynamics and sharp increases in US tariffs.

UAE Foreign Trade Minister Thani Al-Zeyoudi visited India over the weekend for talks with Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and business leaders in Mumbai.

“The meeting reviewed the progress made under CEPA and reaffirmed the shared vision of expanding bilateral trade towards the target of USD 100 billion non-oil, non-precious metals trade by 2030,” India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement on Monday.

“Discussions included collaboration in emerging sectors such as renewable energy, digital infrastructure, supply chain resilience, and healthcare.”

The ministers co-chaired meetings with representatives of the pharmaceutical and food sectors.

“In the pharma sector, key issues were discussed in light of evolving geopolitical challenges,” the ministry said.

“Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al-Zeyoudi underlined that despite global turbulence, the India–UAE partnership has emerged as a resilient driver of growth.”

The announcement to boost UAE-India ties under CEPA comes as many sectors in India look for ways to offset the impact of the Donald Trump administration’s recent 50 percent tariff hike on Indian goods — expected to significantly slow India’s exports to the US, which has been a top market.

In effect since May 1, 2022, the UAE-India CEPA has reduced tariffs on about 80 percent of all goods and provided zero-duty access to 90 percent of Indian exports.

Bilateral non‑oil trade reached $65 billion in 2024, according to UAE Ministry of Economy data.

Non-oil exports from India to the UAE reached $27.4 billion in the financial year 2023–24, marking an average annual growth of 25.6 percent since the CEPA came into effect. The surge has been led by sectors such as gems and jewelry, electrical machinery, chemicals, and smartphones.

“We are looking to diversify our trade basket, our products and also looking at important markets in the Gulf and Middle East. We can work on alternative markets for our products,” Manish Mohan, senior director for the Gulf and Middle East at Confederation of Indian Industry, told Arab News.

“UAE is a very important gateway to Africa, Europe and Central Asia … We have already achieved a great success in CEPA, and we are looking at deeper investment and economic opportunities.”


Death toll in Louisville UPS plane crash rises to 9

Death toll in Louisville UPS plane crash rises to 9
Updated 6 sec ago

Death toll in Louisville UPS plane crash rises to 9

Death toll in Louisville UPS plane crash rises to 9
  • Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board will be on site later Wednesday morning to begin the process of finding out what went wrong
  • Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said nine dead people had been found at the scene of the crash

KENTUCKY, USA: The death toll from the crash of a UPS cargo plane that erupted into a fireball moments after takeoff in Louisville, Kentucky on Tuesday has risen to nine, city and state officials said Wednesday.
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board will be on site later Wednesday morning to begin the process of finding out what went wrong when the 34-year-old MD-11 cargo plane caught fire around 5:13 p.m. ET Tuesday and then crashed.
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said nine dead people had been found at the scene of the crash. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said on social media it was possible there would be more fatalities. The plane had a crew of three according to UPS and officials said none of the crew survived.
Several buildings in an industrial area beyond the runway were on fire after the crash, with thick, black smoke seen rising into the evening sky.
Officials said 11 victims had been taken to hospitals on Tuesday.
A government official told Reuters at least 10 others remain unaccounted for. Beshear told CNN that two people remain in critical condition and added it could have been much worse.
“This plane barely missed a restaurant bar. It was very close to a very large Ford plant with hundreds, if not a thousand plus workers,” Beshear said. ” It was very close to our convention center that’s having a big livestock show that people were arriving for.” The international airport in Louisville reopened to air traffic early on Wednesday, though the runway where the accident happened is expected to remain closed for another 10 days, officials said.
UPS said Wednesday it canceled a parcel sorting shift that usually begins in the midmorning at its facility at the airport after it had halted package sorting operations Tuesday.
US aviation safety expert Anthony Brickhouse said on Wednesday he has not seen any evidence of a link between the accident and a 36-day US government shutdown that has strained air traffic control.
NTSB investigators will be looking to retrieve the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder that will shed light on the crash.
Brickhouse said investigators are expected to focus on the number one engine which was seen on video to be ignited, and appeared to have separated from the aircraft. “It is designed to fly if you lose one engine, but we need to see the effect of losing that engine on the rest of the aircraft,” Brickhouse said.
The triple-engine plane was fueled for an 8-1/2 hour flight to Honolulu.
It was the first UPS cargo plane to crash since August 2013, when an Airbus aircraft went down on a landing approach to the international airport in Birmingham, Alabama, killing both crew.