Indian industry fair in Sharjah to focus on boosting trade

Monday, 23 February 2004, 20:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: A three-day Indian industry exhibition to be held in Sharjah in April will focus on boosting bilateral trade ties, especially in the knowledge economy, the organisers said Sunday. The "India: Knowledge Millennium Economy" conference-cum-exhibition will be organised jointly by the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) in the first half of April. "The conference-cum-exhibition will focus on IT, business process outsourcing, tourism, food processing, imports and exports," said a joint press statement here. M.K. Sanghi, president of ASSOCHAM, said there was tremendous scope for boosting trade ties between India and Sharjah as currently Indian exports to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) account for only six percent of New Delhi's global exports. "The UAE is India's top most trading partner in the entire West Asia and North Africa region and represents 70 percent of India's exports to Gulf Cooperation Council countries," he said in a statement. Indian exports to the UAE, which stood at a little over $2 billion in 1999-2000, has touched $3 billion now. India also imported around $800 million worth of goods from UAE in 2002-03. "The trend is encouraging and we hope to see bilateral trade cross $5 billion," said Sanghi. The major items of India's exports to the UAE are readymade garments, accessories, gems and jewellery, manmade yarn, fabrics, metals, marine products, machinery, tea, electronic goods and plastic products. The major items of imports are pearls, precious and semi-precious stones, gold, metal and metal scarp, machineries, non-ferrous metals, pulp and waste paper.
Source: IANS
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