Amidst the UAE's insistence on resolution of "legacy issues" of some of the big investments of its companies, India today assured them that it would try to "ring fence" some of their investors without diluting the main cases.
With trade ties one of the key components of the bilateral strategic relationship and which is expected to be discussed in detail during talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan tomorrow, India is making efforts to address the UAE's concerns.
"Specific demand is that we resolve these issues quickly. That is in nutshell. It has taken time because we are not able to perdict. These are not executive decisions, they are subjudice and are in different courts.
"We will try to see whether we can ring fence some of their investors without diluting the main cases...Because there are Indians also involved in these cases...Given the restriction and given the fact that our judiciary will have to work with them so that we have early resolution of these cases," Secretary Economic Relations Amar Sinha told reporters while briefing on the visit of Al Nahyan.
Asserting that the UAE wants better, stronger economic ties, the UAE's Ambassador Ahmed Al Banna had told PTI in an interview that his country "wants to see that the legacy issues of some of the big investments of UAE companies sorted out" as well as relaxation in FDI in sectors like ports and real estate.
UAE companies that are facing issues in India with regard to their investments include telecom firm Etisalat, marine terminals developer DP World, Emaar (realty) and TAQA (energy).
Following a Supreme Court order cancelling its 13 telecom licences, Etisalat exited from India operations and has sought refund of the licence fee as well as bank guarantees.
However, India's Ambassador to UAE Navdeep Singh Suri said in several cases, there has been "tangible progress".
"So many of 'legacy cases' have been resolved by the high-level taskforce that was established after the last visit (by the UAE leader) and friends in the UAE acknowledge the progress that has been made in the last several months in resolving some long-standing cases," Suri added.
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