‘India got liberal visa regime under UAE agreement’

While our free trade talks with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) stalled in 2008, the India-UAE agreement was finalized in a record 88 days. What were the difficult parts in the negotiations?

Negotiations are always difficult as there are so many stakeholders involved. And as time goes on, some things lose context. The Middle East is an oil/hydrocarbon economy. With the climate change conversation starting very fast, they too are thinking on their feet. We may be suffering from high oil prices today, but the demand landscape may change in the future. Thus a new change is taking place in the hydrocarbon economies and they are looking for avenues. Dubai’s model of being a business, financial services hub is something everyone is looking forward to, including their neighbor Abu Dhabi.

So is there a GCC deal expected this year as well?

GCC has also been very curious. They are keen to resume the stalled GCC talks. The Secretary General of the GCC has met with our Minister and at this point, we are strengthening the Terms of Reference (TOR). The United Arab Emirates is also part of the GCC, so we can expect other countries to join the bloc as well, as the text is already agreed upon. While there will be no discussion at the lesson, the schedule may be changed. For example, what priority can we give to Saudi Arabia, Oman or Bahrain. The UAE-FTA could also become a model for the GCC agreement.

Is visa a part of liberalization agreement?

We are a huge beneficiary as far as services are concerned. We have given concessions in 100 sectors and they have given concessions in 111. There will be a lot of Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRAs) between the two parties and CEPA facilitates the conclusion of MRAs. As far as visa liberalization is concerned, there are three or four categories of people, such as business visitors, contract service providers and intra-corporate transfers. There are provisions where the visa regime has either become more liberal than the current one or it supersedes the current regime. This means that once the concession is granted in the FTA, they cannot go back. Under the FTA, business visitors will get a 90-day visa, while contractual service suppliers can get 90-day visas that are extendable. Under this FTA, intra-corporate transferees can get visa for three years. There is a separate chapter on the movement of natural persons. UAE has also achieved in the form of financial services and logistics is their strength, but we will gain in professional services, legal, accounting, taxation, computer, audio-visual services, education, health and R&D.

You mentioned earlier that the areas under India’s PLI are excluded from the India-UAE CEPA. Is this going to be a blueprint for future agreements or will it be a country or block-wise approach?

There are two parts to this on the PLI. Protection is not necessarily by exclusion. For example, mobile phones are not excluded from the UAE CEPA. However, the value addition criterion is 40%. But we don’t see any risk, as it’s difficult to do 40% value addition on mobile. UAE is a huge market for our mobiles and this treaty gives us duty free access. We see this as opening up the mobile market for Africa. Aluminium, Copper, Chemicals, Petrochemicals are the four sectors where we have given concessions and have also manufactured them domestically. So, here are some manufacturers that will face competition. However, because our economy is growing rapidly, we will consume what we produce and consume what comes. I don’t see any danger in the industry.