A lot seems to be happening on the economic, industrial, trade and commerce as well as the political front between the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and India. The age-old Indo-Arabian ties have matured over the years and a new dimension has now entered the bond. The friendship has matured into a stronger relationship. India and the GCC countries see in each other loads of economic opportunity in the form of bilateral trade and cooperation. The changing world scenario has much to offer to the two sides at the present as well as the future. To work towards that purpose, an environment has to be created to redefine and rebuild the relationship.

It was with this aim that the recent GCC-India Industrial Conference, held on 17-18 February, 2004, at Mumbai, set up a platform to restructure the ties. The conference witnessed a formal economic dialogue between the regions. The conference, aptly titled, “Opportunities and Challenges in the 21st Century” centered on trade, investment, industrial cooperation including small and medium enterprises and transfer of technology including information technology. The meet, organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), provided a roadmap for the future since there was a general belief that cooperation between the member-states would yield great mutual benefit.

It cannot be denied that geographical proximity, in addition to other factors, dictates the literature of business and trade between the regions. However, the scope for improvement remains and the fact that GCC was India’s second-largest trading partner in 2002 merely goes on to prove the need to boost trade and economic ties further. The liberalization of the Indian economy has also been beneficial for the GCC since the six states were also the largest single origin of imports into India and the second-largest destination for exports from India. The overall GCC-India trade amounted to about US$12.5 billion in 2002. Among the GCC countries, India’s largest trading partner has been the UAE, with about US$4.3 billion in a two-way trade in 1999-2000, followed by Saudi Arabia with US$3.0 billion and Kuwait with US$1.7 billion. The GCC’s largest export to India appears to be oil, while the main product groups imported from India to the GCC are textiles, precious metals and food products.

That the winds of change are blowing towards a more fruitful direction and the timing was right to reap the benefits of an everlasting tie-up was apparent at the conference with its emphasis on the need to increase bilateral business and trade.

Attended by the ministerial delegations of the six GCC countries, the meet saw the presence of senior officials, delegations from the Chambers of Commerce and Industry from the Gulf States and over 200 individual businessmen. Mr Arun Jaitley, the Minister for Commerce and Industry, led the Indian delegation. With him were more than 250 representatives of Indian industry, a majority of them CII members. It was agreed that the mega event, with ministerial and business participation, would provide a renewed boost to the already substantial GCC-India trade, investment, industrial and technological cooperation.  The business summit brought together the Chambers of Commerce and Industry, entrepreneurs, exporters, captains of industry and leading businessmen from GCC and India.

Both sides acknowledged the traditionally close and historical ties between the GCC countries and India and expressed satisfaction at the new level of interaction between the member-states, particularly in the recent months.  Each delegation repeated its commitment and political will to maintain close, regular contacts for deeper understanding and diversified relations, while complementing India’s excellent relations with individual GCC countries.   All through the discussions, major emphasis was laid on bilateral investments and trade, enhancing linkages between the business communities in the two regions and building cooperation in the emerging areas of technology.

The GCC head, Mr. Kalid Abdullah, stressed the need to further enhance trade, industrial and technological cooperation between the private sectors of India and the GCC countries. He pointed out the need for a plan to facilitate investment and technology transfer through joint ventures. He chalked out the common parameters on which the GCC could work and strengthen mutual ties. In areas like human resources, diversification of economies and the demands arising out of globalization (free trade), he advocated the need for more cooperation.

The Conference recognized the great potential for industrial cooperation between GCC and India. It focused on cooperation in small and medium enterprises (SMEs)/small-scale industries (SSI) for rapid industrialization and generation of employment opportunities. Equal stress was laid on inviting attention for investments in large joint ventures in GCC, India and third countries in areas of their core economic competence and mutual interest like petroleum and petrochemicals, gas exploration and production, refineries and pipelines, fertilizers, power and water, metals, telecom, environmental management, food processing and packaging industries, automobiles and auto component industries and pharmaceuticals.

From the Indian perspective the conference recognized that the GCC and India would gain immensely through mutual technology transfer and cooperation in training. In this context, the GCC acknowledged India’s achievements in developing and sharing leading edge technologies in the fields of Information and communications technology, biotechnology, space, etc. Incidentally, a number of Indian IT companies have already established their presence and made a mark in the GCC.

On his part, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Law and Justice, Mr. Arun Jaitley, expressed his satisfaction at hosting the first-ever GCC-India Industrial Conference. The minister drove home the point that India was poised to become a leader in the new global map and eager to cooperate and collaborate with the GCC countries for mutual benefit. Mr Jaitley praised CII’s initiative, which had resulted in making the conference possible.

The first GCC-India Industrial Conference was historic indeed for it brought together not only a large conglomeration of GCC countries but leaders from the Indian side also. The event has been able to boost the available opportunities and the will of all the parties involved to effect positive changes in political and economic terms and rewrite history.