Union Minister of Commerce Industry and Textiles, Anand Sharma met the NRI business leaders from UAE in Dubai on Sunday. He urged them to come and invest in India to meet the infrastructure needs of the country. Addressing the NRI Business leaders at a function organized by India Business Professional Council in Dubai, the Commerce Minister said India is looking forward to investments worth US$ 1 trillion in infrastructure sector over the next five years. For this purpose it requires investment support in the Public Private Partnership projects. Highlighting the investor friendly policy initiatives of the Indian Government the Minister said that NRI business leaders and the foreign direct investment from gulf countries like UAE can play a major role in meeting this goal. The UAE Minister of Foreign Trade Sheikha Lubna Bint Khalid Al Qasimi said India-UAE partnership has been the best partnership in the region. She urged the need to identify key areas like renewable energy, defence, technical collaboration and food security to further enhance the bilateral co-operation.

The Commerce Minister held bilateral meeting his UAE counterpart later in the day. He told the UAE Minister of Foreign Trade that UAE should take the lead to formalize the India-GCC Free Trade Agreement talks which have been stalled for a while.

The Commerce Minister will co- chair the first meeting of the High Level Task Force on Investment with the UAE Minister of Industries Sheikh Hamid Bin in Abu Dhabi on Monday. It is expected that the visit and the high level task force meeting will give a fillip to trade and investment between the two countries.