The third GCC-India Industrial Conference was held in Mumbai on 29-30 May 2007. The event was organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry, the Gulf Cooperation Council, the Indian Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry. This conference, the third in the series, was an important step in realizing the enormous potential in terms of trade that exists between India and GCC countries.

Dr Hashim bin Abdullah bin Hashim Abdullah al-Yamani, Minister for Commerce and Industry, Saudi Arabia, said that he was pleased with the manner in which the previous two conferences had created a road-map for furthering economic growth, and hoped that this third conference would help create better linkages between GCC countries and India. He stressed the need to create a climate conducive to furthering economic enterprises, and said that he was confident the respective governments would take all necessary steps to facilitate such interactions. Mr Kamal Nath, Minister of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, pointed out that GCC countries account for just 1 percent of FDI into India (US$503.32 million investments from 1991-2007), and he invited investors from GCC countries to set up facilities in India, which would help develop trade between India and GCC countries as also enhance capacities in India. He appealed to GCC countries to look at infrastructure, an area that “offers immense opportunities for investments.” He stated that India would require an investment of US$320 billion in the next five years and that there was huge potential for investments. Making a mention of the policy initiatives that India has taken to make investments easier, he invited investors from GCC countries to avail of the 100 per cent FDI benefit under the automatic route allowed by India for this purpose.

Mr Abdulrahim Hassan Al Naqi, Secretary General, Federation of GCC Chambers, said that the substantial improvement in economic relations between GCC countries and India is “clearly manifested in growth of volume trade from US$6 billion in 2000 to US$20 billion in 2006. Mr Mohamad Obaid Almazroai, Assistant Secretary General, Gulf Cooperation Council spoke of the need to further develop existing economic relations between GCC countries and India, as also extend these to other sectors such as investments and services.

On conclusion of the inaugural session, a document on Opportunities in Real Estate in India by DIPP and Ernst and Young as also an information brochure on ‘key sectors of cooperation with Gulf Countries’ prepared by Citigroup was released by Shri Kamal Nath. The conference also witnessed the signing of four MoUs between private sector companies in India and Saudi Arabia. The ‘Mumbai Declaration’ released at the third edition of the two-day India-GCC Industrial Forum calls for enhanced cooperation between the two sides in four specific areas: real estate, energy, petrochemicals, and infrastructure.