India and the UAE announced the launch of their as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the UAE Deputy Commander, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed held a virtual summit on Friday. PM Modi was due to visit Abu Dhabi in January, a trip that cancelled due to the Omicron wave of Covid- and while he still might go next month, before the Dubai Expo ends on March 31, the two sides decided to delay the launch of CEPA no further.
The agreement is a first in many ways
A first for the Modi government, that had till 2020 eschewed all free trade agreements as unfair to India, cancelled all Bilateral Investment Treaties, and walked out of the RCEP negotiations after eight years
