India-UAE ties moving from co-investment to co-innovation and AI: UAE special envoy

The next frontier for the India-United Arab Emirates partnership is moving from co-investment to co-innovation and artificial intelligence (AI), Badr Jafar, the UAE’s special envoy for business and philanthropy, told ET.

“Together, we are exploring cooperation in advanced computing capacity, data centres and AI-enabled services-positioning the UAE-India corridor not merely as a consumer of AI, but as a co-creator of its next phase,” said Jafar, who visited Delhi this week. “Beyond AI, we see strong alignment across advanced manufacturing and low-carbon industries, clean energy and grid-scale storage, digital infrastructure and fintech rails, healthcare innovation and biopharma supply chains, as well as smart logistics and trade platforms.”

The UAE has been an early mover, appointing the world’s first minister of state for AI in 2017 and establishing the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence in 2019, the world’s first AI-dedicated university. AI is expected to contribute about 14% to the UAE’s gross domestic product by 2030. India, meanwhile, brings extraordinary digital public infrastructure, engineering depth and scale, Jafar said.

Jafar is also the CEO of Crescent Enterprises. CE-Invests, the strategic investments platform of Crescent Enterprises, last November announced plans to deploy AED 1 billion (about $272 million) over the next three years in high-growth markets across India, Southeast Asia and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. Asked about the India-UAE economic corridor, Jafar said, “When the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement was signed in 2022, it set a target of $100 billion in bilateral trade by 2030. That milestone was reached last year, five years ahead of schedule. At last month’s presidential meeting, our leaders doubled the ambition to $200 billion by 2032. Few economic corridors globally are moving at that pace, and with that level of institutional alignment.”

Non-oil trade alone grew nearly 20% last year to reach $65 billion. UAE investors have deployed more than $22 billion in India across infrastructure, healthcare, financial services and renewables. Meanwhile, Indian investments in the UAE exceed $16 billion, with companies building manufacturing facilities, relocating production lines and establishing regional headquarters, according to Jafar.

Source: The Economic Times