Hope India-GCC FTA becomes a reality 'very soon': Official

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Gulf Cooperation Council have resumed talks for concluding a free trade agreement which is expected to bring new business opportunities for both sides, a top Indian official said on Wednesday as he expressed hope that the deal would soon become a reality. Secretary (Consular, Passport & Visa and Overseas Indian Affairs) in the Ministry of External Affairs Ausaf Sayeed also shared that India is in discussion with its bilateral partners with regard to alternate payment mechanisms like rupee trading and barter trading «especially under the new circumstances where most countries are facing challenges of foreign currency».

GCC is a union of six countries in the Gulf region — Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain. The Arab region is the largest trading partner bloc of India with a trade exceeding USD 240 billion during financial year 2022-23.

Of this, trade with GCC countries alone amounted to over USD 184 billion. The UAE remained India's third largest trading partner and Saudi Arabia the fourth largest trading partner during the last financial year.

There are several focus areas which have been identified between India and the Arab world, which include food security, supply chains, healthcare and pharma, energy security, renewable energy including green hydrogen, chips and semiconductors and technology including fintech and edtech. Sayeed highlighted that there exists a huge potential in the industries of tourism, entertainment and culture, where most of the governments are very keen to forge greater partnerships in these areas with India.

India has a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with the UAE, which came into effect on May 1, 2022. The agreement provides preferential market access to over