Time for businesses to benefit from India-UAE partnership: Piyush Goyal

Leaders and governments can only create framework and provide platforms but at the end of the day it is up to businesses to take advantage of the opportunities, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said.

The two-day India Global Forum (IGF), the UAE edition, kicked off here on Monday, as a bevy of top policymakers and business leaders gathered to discuss tech innovation, expansion of regional partnerships, growth frontiers and global climate concerns. Addressing the forum, Goyal on Monday said that he has witnessed opportunities being created at the ongoing Dubai Expo-2020.

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I am very confident that businesses from both sides will take this opportunity and that people-to-people connect is only going to get strengthened. The next decade is going to be a defining decade in the India-UAE relationship so we should work in the spirit of partnership and let the industry, academic and government all work in this spirit of partnership to strengthen this bond of friendship and make it a truly defining and strategic partnership, the minister said.

Goyal said that leaders and governments can only create framework and provide platforms but at the end of the day it is up to businesses to take advantage of the opportunity made available. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, and Electronics and Information Technology, and Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare were among those who attended the forum.

Those participating from the UAE included Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications, Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade and Dr Ahmed Abdulrahman Abdulrahman AlBanna, Ambassador of the UAE Embassy in New Delhi.

This is the first Middle East edition of India Global Forum. According to the official website, the IGF is the agenda-setting forum for international business and global leaders. It offers a selection of platforms that international corporations and policymakers can leverage to interact with stakeholders in their sectors and geographies of strategic importance.