Arab: Arab world is a grouping of 22 countries having a combined GDP of 2500 USD billion (2016) with a growth rate of around 3%. Historically India had close relations with Arab world. As much as 70 percent of India’s oil imports come from the Middle East and North Africa. A large portion of our exports and imports pass through the Suez Canal. In recent years, many Indian companies have set up businesses there. As many as five million Indians live in the region. Most of the Arab world countries see India as their strategic partner, a status that represents shared values, perceptions and approaches on matters of security concern.

Arab world has one of the lowest levels of intraregional trade in the world despite preferential market access and significant cultural homogeneity. There exists immense trade potential in the region, waiting to be tapped. It has been reported that there is a potential to increase the total trade of member states by 10% and create at least two million jobs, by reducing obstacles to trade. Members of the League have signed several trade agreements on preferential market access, most notably creating the Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA).

The Middle East and the Arab world are often confused as one and the same thing, they're not. The Middle East is a geographical concept. The simplest way to figure out what nations make up the Arab world is to look at the 22 members of the Arab League namely Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Sudan, Morocco, Tunisia, Kuwait, Algeria, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Mauritania, Somalia, Palestine, Djibouti, Comoros.

Arab: Over 40 MOUs have been signed with the leading Chambers of Commerce and another apex organisations of the Arab League. To identify bottlenecks and accelerate the pace of economic and commercial relations between India and the Arab countries, the division organises Business Council Meetings with select Arab countries on a regular basis.

As part of its engagement strategy, FICCI organises India-Arab Partnership Conferences with the support of Ministry of External Affairs, Govt of India and League of Arab States, on biennial basis, once in India and once in one of the countries of the Arab world. Till date 5 such conferences have taken place. It has representation from almost all the Arab world nations at a ministerial level. FICCI has been officially designated nodal chamber in India by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India for India-Arab Partnership Conferences.

Israel: The Israel Division is committed towards enhancing collaboration and cooperation between India and Israel. The division is actively engaged in tracking new avenues of collaboration for Indian companies through sector -focused business delegations to Israel. While promoting bilateral trade is an important part of work, the team also engages with various stakeholders on policy issues to further the commercial partnership between the countries.

FICCI was designated as the technical secretariat to the newly formed India-Israel CEOs Forum by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) during the first visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Israel in July 2017. The Forum comprising of 15 CEOs from each side, has been formed to strengthen trade and investment between India and Israel. Six working groups have been formed to work on critical sectors of interest on both sides.

Pillars of Engagement

Institutional Connects of FICCI in Israel