Shri Ashishkumar Chauhan MD & CEO of Bombay Stock Exchange, Danish Reyaz MD Maeeshat Media and Kashif Ahmed Shaikh Founder Director Globalizz Public School at UAE Strategic Conclave 2017 in Dubai (Photo:Maeeshat)

By Danish Reyaz,

Nothing could be a better Diwali gift from Abu Dhabi to India than the gulf state’s announcement to invest $1billion in the infrastructure development of the South Asian power. The announcement has been made a little over two weeks after the successful India-UAE Strategic Conclave 2017 held in Dubai in the last week of September.

H.E. Suhail Mahmoud Al Ansari, Excutive Director Mubadala Healthcare and Danish Reyaz (Photo: Maeeshat)

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) has announced, just three days before Diwali, to invest $1billion in the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF). This is seen as the beginning of success of India’s attempts to raise equity funds for the infrastructure sector. The agreement is said to have been signed between NIIF Master Fund and a wholly owned subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world. With this announcement, ADIA will become the first institutional investor in NIIF’s Master Fund.

The investment vow from Abu Dhabi, one of the six members of the United Arab Emirates, could be rightly seen as the first positive outcome of the India-UAE Strategic Summit 2017

India-UAE Strategic Conclave 2017

The two-day business summit (27-28 Sep) was held at Al-Habtoor City in Dubai. The summit was aimed to ignite the required fire in the business and trade relations between the two regions. It was held in the backdrop of two India visits of Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan in less than one year (first in Feb 2016 and then in Jan 2017), preceded by the historic UAE visit of India Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Aug 2015).

Held under the patronage and presence of Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Cabinet Member and Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development, UAE, the conclave features various government and business leaders from the two countries.

Besides Sheikh Nahyan, other eminent personalities who spoke at the summit included: Dr. Tayeb Kamali, Chairman, Emirates Driving Company; H.E. Mohammed Sharaf, Assistant Foreign Minister for Economic and Trade Affairs; H.E. Abdullah Al Darmaki, CEO, Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development; , H.E. Naveed Suri, Indian Ambassador to UAE; Anshu Budhraja, CEO, Amway India; Anthony Hobeika, CEO, MENA Research Partners; Ashish Kumar Chauhan, MD & CEO, BSE; and CP Gurnani, MD & CEO, Tech Mahindra.

On the first day (27 Sep), besides discussion on various economic issues like Entrepreneurship, Innovation etc., some eminent Indian business leaders in UAE were felicitated for being exemplary Ambassadors of Bilateral Cooperation and Trade between the two countries. They included: Dr. B.R. Shetty, Founder & Vice Chairman, NMC Healthcare; Yusuffali MA, Managing Director LuLu Group and Tony Jashanmal, Director & Partner Jashanmal Group.

On the second day (28 Sep), Chief Guest and patron of the summit H.E. Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, UAE’s Cabinet Member and Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development, spoke on “The way forward for India-UAE relations”. Business leaders from the two sides also had panel discussion on “Remodelling Globalization: Co-functioning in a fast Changing World and the Opportunities between India and UAE.”

Business, Media Partners

The India-UAE business conclave was supported by the Indian government’s flagship Make in India program. Its industry partner was UAE India Business Council (UIBC). Industry association partners were: Indian Business & Professional Council (IBPC), Indian Economic Trade Organisation (IETO), Asian-Arab Chamber of Commerce (AACC) and Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

The India-UAE summit also had media partners: Maeeshat Media, Entrepreneur, Infrastructure Today, Aviation & Defence Universe, ecargolog, Banking Finance and Realty Fact.

As Managing Director of Maeeshat Media Pvt. Ltd., which was media partner of the summit, I was offered special invitation, and I accepted the offer and attended the two-day India-UAE Strategic Conclave in Dubai. For me, it was great meeting business leaders from India and UAE. On the sidelines of the conclave, I met various business leaders from India and UAE including Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Cabinet Member and Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development, UAE and Mr. Ashish Kumar Chauhan, MD & CEO of Bombay Stock Exchange.

During the conclave itself, many had expressed hope that the event could turn out to be a milestone in the bilateral economic relations between India and UAE. But none had thought the success would come so fast. The pledge of Abu Dhabi to invest $1billion in the infrastructure development of India may open the floodgate of investments from the Gulf region.