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productive economic partnerships with governments and the private sector in these critical
areas, where dialogues have been successful.

Over the past three years, Investopia Global Talks travelled to more than 11 global strategic
markets, presenting a series of effective and distinct debates and sessions on economic and
investment opportunities in emerging markets, and offering an interactive platform that brought
together senior leaders, economic players, investors and entrepreneurs at the local, regional
and global levels.

He added that the UAE and India share the vision of embracing a new and sustainable
economic model, which underscores Investopia’s key role in promoting and supporting the
achievement of this vision in the government and private sectors of the two countries.

The UAE and India are among the fastest growing economies, with the UAE’s non-oil GDP
growing by 6.2 per cent in 2023 compared to that of 2022, ranking 5th globally in the real GDP
growth index.

Meanwhile, India’s GDP grew by 8.4 per cent in the last three months of 2023. These figures
reflect the momentum of growth of economic opportunities in the two countries’ markets during
the next phase, given their outstanding economic partnership.

Bin Touq said, “We introduced the inaugural Investopia Global Talks in India in 2021, hosting
two sessions in Mumbai and New Delhi. Today, we are launching a new milestone in the South
Indian city of Chennai, highlighting the significance we attach to the Indian private sector as a
key economic and investment partner to the UAE’s business sector. This has great relevance
considering there were over 232,000 Indian commercial licences operating in various economic
sectors and activities within the UAE’s markets as of the end of H1 2024. In this, 20,000 Indian
commercial licences were registered during the first six months of this year alone.”

“The choice of Chennai, India as the venue for the Investopia Global Talks is driven by its strong
economic foundation in new and innovative sectors like electric vehicles, programming, medical
tourism, sustainable manufacturing, data centres, and the development of fintech sector. This
establishes Chennai as a key hub for fostering attractive investment prospects in these sectors,
which are crucial to the UAE private sector to explore and capitalise on. The Indian government
has set an ambitious target for Chennai to achieve a trillion-dollar economy by 2030 through
sustainable sectors and initiatives, cutting-edge innovations, e-commerce, and the upskilling of
talent,” he added.

Alia Abdullah Al Mazrouei, Minister of State for Entrepreneurship, said, “Under the directives of
its wise leadership, the UAE attaches significant importance to developing the SMEs sector,
which is a key partner in fostering the growth and sustainability of the national economy.

SMEs today make up 94 per cent of all private sector companies in the UAE and contribute 40
per cent to the UAE’s GDP.” She emphasised that the Ministry of Economy has set a target of
raising the number of SMEs operating in the country’s markets to one million by 2030. This
objective aims to support the increase of the UAE’s GDP to Dhs3 trillion within the next decade,
aligning with the goals outlined in the ‘We the UAE 2031’ vision.

“This edition of Investopia marks a new step in fueling SME sector growth in both the UAE and
India. Its purpose is to shed light on the opportunities and enablers available to entrepreneurs

https://www.gulftoday.ae/business/2024/07/26/uae-india-to-strengthen-partnership--in-the-
sustainable-economic-sectors