india-uae-review-gold-import-quota-market-access-in-fta

India and the UAE reviewed the progress of the economic partnership on Thursday, and discussed issues related to allowing market access, data sharing and allocation of gold import quota, among other topics, said the Ministry of Commerce in a statement.

The two sides have been in talks for an India-UAE CEPA (comprehensive economic partnership agreement), which is a kind of free trade agreement (FTA), under which they are aiming to double the bilateral trade in non-oil, non-precious metal categories to $100 billion over the next 3-4 years.

Thursday’s Joint Committee meeting was significant since India briefed the UAE on its recent decision to allocate Gold TRQ through a transparent competitive bidding process.

“The two sides conducted a comprehensive review of progress under CEPA and detailed discussions were held on market access issues, data sharing, allocation of Gold TRQ (tariff rate quota), anti-dumping matters, services, Rules of Origin, BIS licensing,” the commerce ministry said.

 

Also Read: Qatari firms keen to partner with Indian businesses, says Goyal

Besides deliberating upon anti-dumping and services to boost economic ties, India and the UAE also talked about enhancing regulatory cooperation in pharmaceuticals, resolution of issues related to Certificates of Origin, and early signing of the MoU on Food Safety and Technical Requirements between Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), India and Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, UAE.

The bilateral trade has crossed USD 100 billion in 2024-25, which is an increase of 19.6 per cent over 2023-24.

This follows the recent success of healthy growth in trade between both nations in recent years.

“In the first half of 2025, bilateral non-oil trade reached nearly $38 billion, representing a 34 per cent increase compared to the first half of 2024 and a significant step towards the UAE’s 2030 trade targets,” the ministry had said in a statement in September, 2025, when Goyal was in the Gulf for the 13th meeting of India-UAE Joint Task Force on Investments in Abu Dhabi, which was chaired by His Highness Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Managing Director of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA).