UAE Minister of Foreign Trade Thani Al Zeyoudi has announced that early stage dialogue is underway with India to start non-oil dirham-rupee trade.
He made this announcement during an interview with Bloomberg following the World Economic Forum’s meeting on “Cooperation in a Fragmented World”, held from January 16 to 20, 2023.
Despite the UAE exploring non-oil trading in dirham-rupee terms, Minister Thani dismissed claims of trading oil in Indian rupees, claiming the idea was not even being considered.
Surprisingly, Minister Thani’s announcement aligns with Saudi Arabia. Earlier, Saudi Arabia’s Finance Minister Mohammed Al Jadaan also said the Kingdom was considering adopting other currencies for trade instead of the US dollar.
Emirates is constantly working to strengthen its trade. Last year, it signed various economic agreements with India, Indonesia, Turkey, Israel, Ukraine and others. In addition, it is expected to sign similar agreements with Georgia and Cambodia, according to Minister Thani.
According to Bloomberg statistics, India remained the UAE’s 2nd largest trading partner in 2021, with trade of around $64 billion.
Besides, Minister Thani also suggested that the UAE may start using cryptocurrencies for its transactions in the near future.