Shurooq promotes Sharjah's investment potential in India

The Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq), under the umbrella of the Ministry of Economy, have concluded its participation in the 2014 Partnership Summit, the annual flagship event of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), held in Bangalore, India. Organised in collaboration with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India and now in its 20th edition, this year's summit was themed ?Emerging Global Value Chains: Building Partnerships' and Shurooq's delegation, which included Marwan bin Jassim Al Sarkal, CEO of Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq) and Elie Armaly, Director of Business Development of Shurooq, made use of this opportunity to attend B2B meetings with more than 40 Indian and International companies. The Summit's inaugural address was delivered by the Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma, who spoke about the importance of globalisation and the role it has played in motivating companies to restructure their operations internationally. Speaking about the Summit, Marwan bin Jassim Al Sarkal said, "The UAE, and Sharjah in particular, and India have long maintained a strong and highly mutually beneficial relationship. In 2012 alone the trade between our two countries reached nearly $41 billion and even during the period from 2008 to 2012 - which was marked as being a time of global economic downturn - the total trade exchange between the Emirates and the UAE reached nearly $200 billion. Today trade between our two countries is close to US$75 billion, having increased by 4.16 per cent from the year before, (according to DGCIS, Kolkata) making the UAE, India's largest trading partner for the year 2012-13. Our aim with this participation was therefore to capitalise on this solid foundation in order to both solidify the relationships with Indian companies already in place and to explore new partnerships - with a specific focus on the four key investment sectors that Shurooq has identified in Sharjah, namely travel and tourism, transport and logistics, healthcare, and environment." The Shurooq CEO went on to point out that Sharjah is home to a large number of major Indian corporations, with 17,350 Indian companies registered in the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and that in 2012 the Chamber had valued exports and re-exports between India and Sharjah alone at AED 21.162 billion. "Our key mission is to provide the facilities and incentives that are needed to promote investment in Sharjah, and as such the Partnership Summit, which brought together multiple stakeholders and policy thought-leaders, was and ideal platform." Al Sarkal added. The three day summit explored a number of key issues, with topics under discussion including ?Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) / ASEAN with a focus on Global Value Chains', ?Effective Partnerships for a sustainable future', ?Global financial infrastructure', ?Indian Economy and Globalization in the time of transition', ?Role of Multilateral Forums like G20 in building partnerships', ?Role of the Industry in building and IP Ecosystem', ?India and USA relationship', and ?Africa: A new emerging market'.