India, UAE are natural partners, for rules-based fair trade: Piyush Goyal

New Delhi [India], February 18 (ANI): Highlighting that India and United Arab Emirates (UAE) have a deepening bond of brotherhood, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal on Friday said that the two countries are natural partners and are for rules-based fair trade.
Goyal made these remarks after India and UAE signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).
CEPA was signed during a meeting between Goyal and the UAE delegation led by Minister of Economy, Abdulla bin Touq Al-Marri and Minister of State for Foreign Trade Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi.
As India celebrates 75 years of independence, and UAE celebrates the 50th anniversary of its foundation, it is an appropriate time to reset our relationship, taking it to much greater levels than ever before, Goyal said during the India-UAE joint press conference.
Goyal said that India and UAE have been witnessing a growing synergy between the two countries.
"Ever since 2017, when both countries embarked on a comprehensive strategic partnership, covering a very wide array of subjects, ever since the growing bonds between the leaders of the two countries Prime Minister Narendra Modi and His Highness the Crown Prince of UAE, we have been witnessing a growing synergy between the two countries and a deepening of the bonds of brotherhood between the people of the two countries," Goyal said.
Talking about India and UAE's relationship, Goyal said, "UAE and India are natural partners because we complement each other. There's hardly any element of competition between these two major economies. We are both for rules-based fair trade."
Goyal continued saying that India and UAE believe in engaging with each other in a spirit of reciprocity.
"And we both believe that the people of both countries, businesses in both countries should mutually benefit from our deepening engagement. And I think that is truly the defining factor, which helped us conclude a Comprehensive Economic Partnership," Goyal noted.
Talking about the comprehensive economic partnership, Goyal said "This is not an interim arrangement or an interim agreement. It's a complete and comprehensive economic partnership, finalized in the shortest possible time that any such comprehensive agreement anywhere in the world has been witnessed in history." (ANI)