Sharjah seeks Indian investment

Wednesday, 27 August 2003, 19:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: A four-member delegation from Sharjah's Hamriyah Free Zone will visit several Indian cities to woo investors. Led by Hamriyah Free Zone director general Rashid Al Leem, the team will hold seminars and meetings with potential investors in cooperation with the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry in India (Assocham) from August 29 to September 14. "The team will visit Ahmedabad and Vadodara. It will also interact with the chambers of commerce and trade bodies in Gurgaon, Bangalore and Mumbai," Assocham assistant secretary general D. S. Rawat told IANS. In Delhi, besides holding interactive meeting with potential investors keen to set up operations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the team will visit industrial units like Hindustan Lever's Modern Food Industries. Assocham, a leading industry lobby that has a cooperation agreement with its counterpart in Sharjah, is also formulating a promotion plan to boost bilateral trade and investment with the emirate. "By late October or early November, we hope to finalise a work plan for holding two seminars-cum-exhibitions in India and Sharjah as part of efforts to boost trade and investment," said Rawat, who is to head the special India desk in the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry. India was second only to the United States in terms of exports to the UAE, which stood at $3 billion, while the UAE was ranked at number six among exporters to India at around $800 million in 2002-03. India is also studying a proposal submitted by the Sharjah chamber to set up a permanent exhibition centre in the emirate. "The proposal has been sent by the India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) to the commerce ministry," a senior official said. With the closure of an office in Dubai a couple of years ago, state-owned ITPO currently does not have a presence in the Gulf to promote Indian exhibitions and trade events. Of the over 10,000 Indian companies in the UAE, around 3,800 are in Sharjah.
Source: IANS
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