The Memorandum of Cooperation between the League of Arab States (LAS) and the Republic of India was signed in New Delhi on 2nd December 2008 and renewed on 13 December 2013 for establishing the Arab Indian Cooperation Forum.
2. Under the aegis of the Arab-Indian Cooperation Forum, the 6th India-Arab Partnership Conference on: "New Horizons in Investment, Trade & Services” was organized on11-12 July 2023 in New Delhi. Ministers, senior officials and businesspersons from Arab States and India participated in it.
3. The Conference was jointly organized by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India and the League of Arab States (LAS), in partnership with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Federation of Arab Businessmen (FAB) and Union of Arab Chambers (UAC). H.E. Shri V. Muraleedharan, Minister of State for External Affairs, Government of India, inaugurated the Conference. From the Arab side, the Conference was led by H.E. Amb Dr. Ali Ibrahim Al Malki, Assistant Secretary General, Head of Economic Affairs Sector of the League of Arab States headquarters.
4. The Conference is the flagship initiative of both sides to provide an institutional platform for a robust engagement between the business communities. The previous five editions of the conference have guided in laying the foundations of a roadmap and synergizing the economic cooperation between India and the LAS countries.
5. While India is one of the major economies and a global player with immense potential to shape the future path of global business dynamics today, the LAS & its member States continue to play an important role in the international economic arena and offer many opportunities for economic partnership. India and the Arab countries are witnessing a new phase of promising development and economic changes, which contribute to supporting economic growth in a sustainable manner.
6. Against this backdrop, the Conference highlighted the importance of close collaboration between India and the Arab countries at various levels to strengthen exchange of knowledge, experience and expertise in various sectors of mutual interest.
7. The Conference also lauded India's G20 presidency, including participation of 3 LAS countries (Egypt, UAE and Oman) as Guest countries, and welcomed India’s hosting of the summit in September 2023. The participants applauded India's active role in addressing the critical issues related to the global economy, such as international financial stability, climate change mitigation, sustainable development, resilient supply-chains and economic decentralization.
8. The Conference has been held at a time when there have been rapid developments in the global geopolitics, disrupting supply-chains and causing concern to the developing world, particularly in terms of food, energy and health security. These developments indeed underscore the need to join hands between Arab countries and India to promote relations and taking them towards sustainable development. In this regard, the Conference has succeeded in bringing business communities of both sides closer, presenting a number of potential trade and investment opportunities.
9. The conference was rich in content with inaugural session at Ministerial-level, followed by Special Sessions in which discussions were held on investment climates and opportunities. The speakers elaborated on the present state of India-Arab cooperation in various sectors and means to enhance them, including by sharing of expertise and technical know-how. The meeting also stressed the important role of the private sector to push trade and investment relations to wider horizons.
10. The Conference witnessed wide participation of Member States of LAS and India. Total 250 members from India and 130 members from LAS Member States participated in the Conference.
The Focused sessions of the following sectors were organized:
I. Inaugural Session
II. "Investment Opportunities In India & Arab World” (Discussion on Key opportunities & Experience Sharing of doing business)
III. "Navigating the Road to 'Health for All' in a post Covid World”
IV. "Sustainable Supply Chain: Connectivity · Collaboration ∙ Innovation for Today and Tomorrow”
V. "Food Insecurity: Towards equitable, sustainable and resilient food systems”
VI. "Energy Cooperation: For a Greener Future”
VII. Concluding Session
11. In addition, several Business-to-Business meetings between Indian and Arab businesspersons were organized on the margins of the Conference.
12. The 6th India- Arab Partnership Conference is expected to provide further momentum to the economic and trade partnership between India and LAS countries.
13. With reference to the recommendation no.1 of the Muscat Declaration in 2016, both sides propose to take positive steps towards the implementation of activating the Joint Arab – Indian Chamber of Commerce in the near future.
14. The 7th session of the Arab-Indian Partnership Conference is decided to be held in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in 2025.
New Delhi
July 12, 2023