Mashable: Despite the fact that oil accounts for 62% of the total trade value and non-oil commerce account for just 38% now, this is soon expected to change.

It is anticipated that the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) trade with India will surpass the $100 billion mark over the next two to three years, thanks in large part to the comprehensive economic cooperation deal signed between the two countries.

The comprehensive economic cooperation agreement (CEPA) that took place on May 1, 2022, gave a considerable boost to the $73 billion in commerce that took place between India and the United Arab Emirates in the fiscal years 2021–2022.

After two years of decline, total commerce increased by 68%, to $73 billion, during fiscal years 21 and 22. Since CEPA was signed, however, the tendency has reversed.

As Mint reports, bilateral trade has grown significantly, with total non-oil trade reaching USD 29.5 billion in the first six months of 2022, a 22 percent increase over the same period in 2021.

Thani Bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, the U.A.E.'s junior foreign trade minister, spoke at an Indo-U.A.E. economic event put on by the industry group CII. He said that between May and June, non-oil exports went up 31%, with a total value of $2.7 billion.

The minister says that they have set a five-year deadline to increase trade between the U.A.E. and India to $100 billion from its current level. However, they are confident that it will reach this goal much sooner, say in the next two or three years because trade between the two countries has grown quickly since the CEPA was signed.

Despite the fact that oil accounts for 62% of the total trade value and non-oil commerce account for just 38% now, Zeyoudi is optimistic that CEPA will eventually alter this. The minister said that India will have a trade deficit of $17 billion in FY22. He said that oil imports make up the vast majority of this deficit.

The minister said that non-oil commerce between the two countries increased by 22% to $29.5 billion in the first half of 2022 and that the U.A.E. is the ninth biggest source of foreign direct investment (FDI) into India, with a total investment of over $20 billion.

Between April and June of this year, foreign direct investment (FDI) flows from the U.A.E. totaled $2.14 billion. Zeyoudi also said that his country is willing to join India's stopped West Coast Refinery if the 60-million-ton refinery, which needs an investment of more than 3 lakh crore to start up, is reopened.

At the same meeting, Srikar Reddy, a joint secretary in the commerce ministry, said that despite a general downturn in global trade between May and August, exports to the U.A.E. had increased by 16 percent, to $10.46 billion from $9 billion, as a direct result of the CEPA.

Reddy further noted that exports made possible by the CEPA have been exceeding the country's total exports by a factor of 5. However, exports of goods other than oil to the U.A.E. increased by 14%. Reddy said that stones and jewelry continue to make up over a third of the non-oil trade, which has increased by 33% to $1.4 billion.

Mubadala, DP World, Sharaf Group, Lulu Group, Emaar Properties, and RAK Ceramics are just a few of the United Arab Emirates companies that have invested in India. ONGC & PetroResources, Tata Motors, Larsen & Turbo Middle East, Oberoi Group, Zuari Agro Chemicals, and Essar Steel Manufacturing Company are all Indian companies that have invested in the U.A.E