New Delhi, Feb 18 :Gems & jewellery, textiles, leather, footwear, sports goods, furniture and engineering goods are among the major labour-intensive sectors which stand to gain from the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between India and the UAE, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said after signing the deal on Friday. Addressing a joint press conference with Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, Minister of Economy of UAE and Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade of UAE after signing the pact, Goyal said that as the bilateral trade with the UAE grows to $ 100 billion in next five years, at least 10 lakh new jobs would be created. Mentioning about pharma sector, Goyal said that UAE has been very gracious in accepting India’s request that once medicine or a medical product are accepted by the developed economies like US, EU, UK, Canada or Australia those items would be approved by the UAE in a time-bound manner (in 90 days) and marketed there. Major sectors in the UAE which would benefit from the bilateral trade agreement include metals, minerals, petro-chemicals, petroleum products and dates. “It’s win-win for both economies, people from both sides and businesses from both sides,” Goyal said. The CEPA is expected to provide significant benefits to Indian and UAE businesses, including enhanced market access and reduced tariffs. It is expected that the CEPA will lead to increase in bilateral trade from the current $ 60 billion to $ 100 billion in the next 5 years. Goyal said that the agreement covers free trade, digital economy, government procurement, and many strategic areas. The 881-page document was finalised in 88 days with teams from both sides burning the mid-night oil. On the questions of items where tariff would come down, Goyal said that both sides have given concessions to each other while ensuring sensitivity from both the sides. “The agreements have been made by both the countries after extensive consultations, with stakeholders i.e domestic industry in their side in the UAE and our side in India .. with the respective departments in both governments and therefore I said earlier that this is very balanced agreement,” Goyal said. “If I go into detailing, I think almost 90 per cent of the trade, both ways.. what we import from UAE and what we export to UAE, which originate in each other’s countries will get significant benefits from this agreement. And obviously, the advantage of UAE is that we don’t have much where we are competing with each other. We complement each other. If you will see the trade basket, the products which we get from the UAE are products that are good for Indian industry and Indian economy,” he further said. Commenting on the India-UAE trade pact, Ajay Sahai, DG & CEO of Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), “It’s a huge milestone particularly because this is first major comprehensive economic partnership agreement which has been signed by India in last 10 years or so.” Sahai said India is already a dominant player in the UAE and has the required wherewithal to increase its share. Besides, Indian exporters are also looking at UAE as gateway to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and beyond (Africa). The UAE is currently India’s third-largest trading partner with bilateral trade in 2019/2020 valued at $ 59 billion. It is also India’s second-largest export destination after the US, with exports valued at about $ 29 billion in 2019-2020. The UAE is the eighth-largest investor in India, having invested $ 11 billion between April 2000 and March 2021, while investment by Indian companies in the UAE is estimated to be over $ 85 billion, as per official data. India’s major exports to the UAE include petroleum products, precious metals, stones, gems & jewellery, minerals, processed foods, apparels, sugar, engineering and chemicals. India’s top imports from the UAE include petroleum and petroleum products, precious metals, stones, gems & jewellery, minerals, chemicals and wood and wood products.(UNI)