DUBAI: India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are exploring ways of establishing joint ventures in third countries, as part of their growing economic partnership.

Minister of Commerce and Industry Kamal Nath said that with the UAE as the hub, the two countries could look for business opportunities in West Asia, North Africa and Eastern Europe. Mr. Kamal Nath was in Dubai to participate in the daylong India-Arab World CEO Summit. Indian officials accompanying him said because of its well-developed international transportation network and favourable geographical location, Dubai was the gateway for doing business in the region and beyond.

Mr. Kamal Nath pointed out that India and the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) were in the process of anchoring a Free Trade Area (FTA) agreement by 2007. "In fact, we are going beyond the FTA, as investments and human resources would also be part of our tie up," he said. The GCC comprises Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait and Oman.

India was seeking the GCC's participation in developing its infrastructure, which would absorb $400 billion of foreign investment in the next five years, the Minister said. He added that that the new tie-ups would supplement oil imports by India, which sourced 60 per cent of its energy supplies from the Gulf.

The Arab countries could also look at India as an attractive destination for "parking" their surplus funds resulting from the recent spurt in oil prices. As part of its expanding basket of overseas investments, India was keen on setting up higher education institutions in the GCC countries.

The UAE's Minister of Economy, Sheikha Lubna Bint Khalid Al Qasimi, who was the chief patron of the conference, said that Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia could become some of the destinations for UAE-India joint ventures. She said that the UAE was interested in joint forays with India in the fields of Research and Development, health care and manufacturing. Kenneth C. Borda, CEO of Deutsche Bank's Middle East and North Africa Division told The Hindu that Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz's India visit in January was "strategically significant" in catalysing a growing economic relationship between New Delhi and the Gulf countries.

Hosted by a GCC country and India alternately, the India-Arab business dialogue was likely to become an annual feature, officials said. The UAE was expected to initiate similar conferences with Brazil, Russia and China as well.

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