Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday called United Arab Emirates (UAE) a reliable partner of India while appealing to all the stakeholders of Downstream Investment Forum to invest in India.
Pradhan, who attended Downstream Investment Forum in UAE, organised by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), told ANI, "India is a new and emerging market. Downstream Investment Forum is a very important forum and UAE is a reliable partner of India. UAE is a very reliable partner of India in utilizing this forum. I appeal all the stakeholders in this energy business to come and invest in India."
Pradhan further hailed India as the number three absolute energy consumer and said the country's per capita energy consumption would increase in the coming years.
"Our energy appetite is very high. Our per capita energy consumption is very modest which will increase in the coming years. We have a growth rate of around 7 percent plus. In the near future the growth rate will be more stablised, we are expecting more energy requirement," he said.
"So we are inviting world energies, stakeholders to come to India and invest in India, do business in all the aspect from upstream to downstream. We're welcoming any investment to India," he added.
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Pradhan, who is on a three-day visit to the UAE which commenced on May 12, is visiting the Arab country to follow up on the February 2018 UAE visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Earlier, Pradhan had said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has made tremendous strides in providing energy justice to all.
While addressing a gathering at the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, UAE, on Saturday, the Union minister said during the Modi government's regime, their endeavour has been to provide affordable, sustainable and clean cooking fuel, energy and electricity to all and that has also made India an attractive investment spot, especially in the energy sector.
"Under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, India in the last four years has made tremendous strides in providing energy justice to all. Our government's endeavour to provide affordable, sustainable and clean cooking fuel, energy and electricity provides a plethora of investment opportunities in India," he said while addressing over 250 Indian professionals, business leaders and community representatives working in the UAE.
Further talking about the achievement of the Modi government, Pradhan, said, "It has been 70 years of Independence, still there was no electricity in 18,000 villages in last two years. But in last two months, the electricity has reached to almost every village."
"In about four crore houses, there is no electricity. But by 2019-20, we will provide electricity to every house in the country," he added.
He further highlighted the attractive investment opportunities in the Petroleum and Natural Gas and Skill Development sectors in India and also extended an invitation to the business community in the UAE for greater collaborations and increased investments in India.
Yesterday, Pradhan and UAE Minister of State and ADNOC Group CEO Dr. Sultan Al Jaber flagged off the first consignment of 2 million barrels of ADNOC crude for Mangalore Cavern.
During the day, Pradhan also held a bilateral meeting with H.E. Dr. Jaber. Minister Pradhan was accompanied by Ambassador Navdeep Suri, senior officials and CEOs for Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum.
During the visit of the Prime Minister, Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL) signed an agreement with the ADNOC of UAE under which the latter will store about 5.86 million barrels of crude oil in India's Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) facility at Mangalore at its own cost.
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