India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Tuesday, marked an agreement on “currency swap” in order to boost investment and also to enable direct trade without introducing a third party in between i.e., US dollar or other international currencies.
12th session of India-UAE joint commission meeting, Indian external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, who is on a two-day official visit to UAE, had a meeting with UAE’s foreign minister Sheikh Adbullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi and singed “currency swap” agreement and also MoU agreement for development cooperation in Africa.
“Currency swap” will reduce the exchange rate risks and also the transmission costs that arises from it. Through the agreement, both the countries will be allowed to import and export trade in their own currency rate at pre-determined exchange rate, without introducing third party like US dollar.
In a tweet, external affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar wrote: “Institutional mechanisms guiding the multifaceted cooperation…Two documents signed during the visit of EAM SushmaSwaraj to UAE: agreement on currency swap and MoU for development cooperation in Africa.”
Institutional mechanisms guiding the multifaceted cooperation
Two documents signed during the visit of EAM @SushmaSwaraj to #UAE : Agreement on Currency Swap and MoU for Development Cooperation in Africa. Details available at: https://t.co/1PIQwoRqRi pic.twitter.com/Ldq6D19vsc
— Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) December 4, 2018
The bilateral trade between India and UAE, with nearly $50 billion trade, are the largest trade partners for each other. UAE hosts a 3.3 million-strong Indian community and ranked at the sixth-largest source of Indian oil imports.
Swaraj and Nahyan jointly launched the Gandhi-Zayed Digital Museum commemorating the 100th year of Founding Father of UAE Sheikh Zayed and also 150th year of Mahatma Gandhi.