Mr Nitin K Peshawaria, Past Chairman, CII Chandigarh Council while addressing the CII Session on Opportunity of Doing Business in SAIF Zone here today said, “UAE is home to an Indian expatriate community of more than 1.75 million. Between 15 & 20 percent of the community is made up of professionally qualified personnel, 20 percent belong to the white collar non-professionals and remaining (about 65%) belong to the blue-collar workers. The Indian community has played a major role in the economic development of the UAE. The economic boom in the UAE has created a huge demand for short-term immigrant labour and white collar non-professionals. Several prominent private and public sector Indian companies and banks are also operating in the UAE”. He said that the relationship between India and the UAE has been built by long standing people-to-people and commercial contacts.”

Sharing CII’s engagement with UAE since 1998, Mr Man Mohan Kohli, Chairman, CII Chandigarh Council shared that “CII proposes to establish an SME Development Centre at Abu Dhabi in association with Higher Colleges of Technology to encourage and assist the young UAE entrepreneurs to set up small units in areas of their interest, relevant to the future diversification of industrial base of the UAE with particular reference to non-oil sectors”.

Mr Humaid AlKhatri, Commercial Director, SAIF Zone Authority shared the advantages of SAIF Zone with over 100 prospective investors. He said, “Set-up in 1995, Sharjah Airport International Free Zone (SAIF-Zone), is a premier business destination situated in the Emirate of Sharjah - the 'industrial powerhouse’ of the UAE with a modern infrastructure and an emphasis on cost effectiveness”. “Over 5500 companies from 132 countries that are operating out of it of which 40% are of Indian origin carrying out varied business activities like light to medium manufacturing, trading and providing services such as IT, consultancy, etc” added Mr AlKhatri.

Both countries must relentlessly pursue the bilateral agenda – at not only the government and private sector level, but also in terms of building public-private partnerships. Concrete steps need to be taken to build a multi- dimensional collaborative framework that leads to sustained economic growth and job creation for both countries, translating into a truly win- win partnership, said Mr Darpan Kapoor, Vice Chairman, CII Chandigarh Council.

Mr Raed Bukhatir, Head of Sales – SAIF Zone Authority shared, “UAE is free from bureaucratic red tapism, which allows the registration process & licenses to be issued within 24 hours. The other benefits the investor enjoy are 100% foreign ownership, 100% repatriation of capital and profits, 100% exemption from income and corporate taxes, on site labour accommodation, access to over 2 billion Consumers and more. Sharjah and its business community benefit by being the only emirate in the UAE with seaports on both the Arabian Gulf and the Indian Ocean. Combined with the facilities at Sharjah International Airport, this location provides the SAIF-Zone a unique logistical advantage via superb Land, Sea and Air links”.

“Sharjah and its business community benefit by being the only emirate in the UAE with seaports on both the Arabian Gulf (Port Khalid) and the Indian Ocean (Port Khor Fakkan). Combined with the facilities at Sharjah International Airport, this location provides the SAIF-Zone a unique logistical advantage via superb Land, Sea and Air links”, added Mr Bukhatir.

Encouraged by growing success over the years, the SAIF-Zone is now embarking on its next phase of expansion to meet the growing demand of its investors wanting to set up operations at the Zone. It is in this context that we today are visiting selected cities in India once again to offer our services and the opportunity to Indian investors to set-up their businesses at the SAIF-Zone, Sharjah said Mr Thomas Joseph - Senior Marketing & Sales Officer at SAIF Zone Authority