India should unshackle controls to attract greater investment from the Middle East

He emphasized that India has the potential to offer these countries a healthy rate of return, as they look eastward for investment opportunities, but needs to unshackle controls and simplify procedures in order to attract greater investments into the country.

Alabbar was speaking in his capacity as co-chair on the session on Middle East and India: Prospects for Trade and Investment at the World Economic Forum's India Summit being held in New Delhi. The three-day India Economic Summit concludes today.

"India and China are two of the fastest growing economies today. India has come out of the shackles of subdued, traditional progress. In addition, the external perception about India's growth potential is at an all-time high. This is the right time for India to proactively reach out and touch the Middle East investor who is looking for opportunities with a good healthy rate of return in this country," Alabbar said.

He also said that he wants to see formal shape to the India-GCC Framework Agreement on Economic Cooperation (FAC) which augurs well towards realising the common vision of shared prosperity and growth

"India and the GCC are traditional trade partners with history and geography on its side. But we need to move fast to be productive and result oriented and if we want to reap the benefits of this close proximity," Alabbar said. The talks on boosting commercial and economic relations will be more fruitful if we collectively push hard to strengthen regional integration through better inter-connectivity."

The first round of talks between India and the GCC on boosting economic and commercial relations was held in New Delhi last month, and followed the signing of the India-GCC Framework Agreement on Economic Cooperation by Kuwait Foreign Minister Mohammed Al-Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah on behalf of GCC and the Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry Kamal Nath on August 25, 2004.

"The GCC has infrastructure and low bureaucracy to complement India's global image as leaders in research and development, intellectual capital and highly efficient labour. We have to synergise our efforts quickly in order to explore expanding and liberalizing trade relations in the fields of trade and investment, technology, transportation, communication, energy, tourism and fisheries," Alabbar added.

He commended the Indian government for seeking closer economic and commercial cooperation with the GCC countries and said he hoped the two trade blocs would work to creating a Free Trade Area (FTA) which will help in setting up joint investment projects and facilitating corporate investments in various fields. He also congratulated the Indian government for recently announcing a forward-looking foreign trade policy.

"I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Government of India for an excellent foreign trade policy. It is truly forward looking and would pave the way for imparting greater competitiveness to India's foreign trade," Alabbar said.

India is the top trade partner for GCC nations and is the third country to become a dialogue partner of GCC after Japan and USA.

The special guests at the illuminating session also included Mahmoud Safwat Mohieldin, Minister of Investment of Egypt and Ali Saleh A. Al Saleh, Minister of Commerce of Bahrain. The session was co-chaired by M. Shafik Gabr, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Artoc Group for Investment & Development, Egypt.

Earlier during the opening day of the Summit, Alabbar spoke on the retailing scenario in India during his speech on Retailing: The Right Time for Global Players. He asked the Indian government to capitalise on the country's strengths to open up retail trade to foreign direct investments.

"India's capital market is much more developed than that of China. The private sector is much more developed and active than in China. The country is placed second after Russia and ahead of China in the Global Retail Development Index. It offers potential similar to that revealed by China over a decade ago. It is time for India to move ahead with greater speed and create the atmosphere for more foreign investments to come into this vital sector," he said.

Speakers at the retailing session included, Mohammed Alshaya, Chief Executive Officer, Alshaya Group, Kuwait, Joshua Chernoff, Vice-President, A.T. Kearney, USA and Jacques-Etienne de T'Serclaes, Partner, Global Leader, Retail and Consumer Markets, PricewaterhouseCoopers, France. The session was chaired by Sanjiv Goenka, Vice-Chairman, RPG Enterprises, India.