Muhammad Azhar

Economic Cooperation between India and the United Arab Emirates in the 1990s

India is a vast country of economic opportunities. Its population and labour force is next only to Chinas. India has a population of about 1 billion.1 Its labour force is estimated to be 450 million. It has a large resource base and a large skilled labour force. During 1999 Indias exports to the world amounted to

Indian migrant workers in GCC countries

39.2 billion whereas its imports from all over the world in 1999 were estimated at

New exploration licensing policy (NELP) in India

45 billion.2 Indias gross international reserves had reached

Economic Cooperation between India and Saudi Arabia: Performance and Prospects

33.0 billion by 1999. Since the beginning of the 1990s India has embarked on an ambitious and continuous liberalization and reform of its economy. This resulted in its gross domestic product growing at the rate of over 6 per cent annually during the decade of 1990-99. As far as gross national product is concerned, with a

Economic Cooperation between India and Kuwait: Performance and Prospects

442.2 billion of GNP in 1999, India ranks 11th in the world. During 1998-99 Indias GNP grew by about 7 per cent 3. Thus having a large human resource base, a wide market and a growing economy, India offers unlimited opportunities of economic cooperation. Compared with India, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a small country in size and population. However, the UAE is an important member of the organization of Gulf Cooperation Council states. Like other members of the council the UAE maintains a high level of per capita income and is counted among the wealthy nations. Also, the size of UAE trade is quite substantial. During 1999 UAE exports amounted to

Aspects of Economic Relations between India and North Africa

28.2 billion whereas its imports were over

The new kings of crude

33.1 billion.4 Much of the prosperity that the UAE enjoys has been from oil exports. The economic policies, since the oil revenue inflow started, were geared for maximum utilization of these revenues for building the UAE as a modern economy. The UAEs reserves of oil and gas amount to be about 10 per cent and 4 per cent of global oil and gas reserves, respectively.5 The UAE has also been an active member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC). At the present rate of production, the UAEs oil reserves are expected to last for more than 100 years.6 Oil production and exports are the most important

Phosphate Exports by Jordan

India and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have age old relations. Indians and people from these countries have frequently travelled to each other’s countries for trade as well as other activities. Indians have been traced in GCC countries for a long time. Indians going to those countries for business, work and other purposes have been a very old phenomenon. Even in pre-oil era, thousands of Indians went to earn a livelihood in GCC countries and many of them settled there forever. However, Indians going to work on a massive scale to these countries is a post-1973 oil era phenomena. The massive inflow of oil revenues consequent to the high rise in global oil price saw unprecedented level of economic development in these countries. However, such development required massive level of manpower, which these countries did not have and this is why these countries are characterized as capital rich labour scarce countries. The economic development in post-1973 oil era in these countries resulted in large scale import of manpower from abroad. As Indians were not new to these lands, the Indian workers also started migrating to these countries in search of employment and better life. Today Indians are present in each sector of economies of GCC countries. Millions of Indian migrant workers abound the GCC countries and contribute their bit in building those economies. However, this benefits them also as well as the Indian economy. These Indian migrant workers are crucial for both Indian as well as GCC countries. This study is a detailed probe into this phenomenon.

Diversification as a Strategy for the Economic Development of Kuwayt

In India, the exploration and production (E&P) activities in petroleum sector had been the protected domain of the public sector oil companies. The government of India has been implementing the policies of liberalisation and reforms in the Indian economy for two decades. This was extended to the petroleum sector also. The exploration policy was also revised and new exploration licensing policy was introduced in 1999. Foreign and private companies were also permitted to participate in the ensuing bidding rounds. Hundred per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) was permitted in E&P sector. Many incentives were extended to the investors. The bid evaluation system was made transparent, and level playing field was promised to all participating companies, domestic or foreign, public or private. Since then, eight rounds of NELP have taken place. After the ninth round, the government is contemplating to introduce open acreage licensing policy. The article provides an assessment of the New Exploration Licensing Policy in India.

Natural gas in India's energy management

India and Saudi Arabia represent the two dominant member countries of their respective regional blocks. If India is the largest country of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Saudi Arabia is the leading country of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The economies of both these countries have been undergoing a process of liberalization and reforms. Being members of World Trade Organization (WTO), both countries are in the process of transforming their economies in the WTO framework. India is a country of vast opportunities having a population of over one billion. The size of its population and labour force are second in the world, next to China only. The steady and continuous reforms during the previous one and half decades has resulted in the Indian economy in achieving a high growth rate of 8.4 per cent during the fiscal year 2005–06. Which is again second to China only. Thus, with a large human resource base, a huge market and an expanding economy, India is becoming a country of unlimited economic opportunities. As far as Saudi Arabia is concerned, it has a population of only 22.7 million. Saudi nationals make up 16.5 million of the total whereas the remaining 6.1 million are non-Saudi expatriates. However, Saudi Arabia is a unique country which holds about a quarter of the global petroleum reserves. It also contains about 3 per cent of global reserves of gas. Saudi Arabia is the largest producer and exporter of petroleum in the world. The enormous petroleum reserves and vast petroleum production capacity gives Saudi Arabia significant power in the global oil market. The production and export of petroleum has provided Saudi Arabia with massive oil revenues which in turn has resulted in the unprecedented development and prosperity that the Saudis presently enjoy. Saudi Arabia applied for membership of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1993. And after 12 years of prolonged negotiations and implementation of sustained reforms of the Saudi economy, Saudi Arabia became the 149th member of the GATT’s successor World Trade Organization in December 2005. Economic cooperation between India and Saudi Arabia pre-dates the oil era. The advent of the oil era further strengthened the bilateral economic cooperation between the two countries. Saudi Arabia’s accession to the World Trade Organization is expected to increase significantly the economic cooperation between these two countries. India–Saudi Arabia economic cooperation consists of bilateral trade inclusive of the energy imports, Indian expatriate workers in Saudi Arabia, the inflow of remittances, Saudi aid and prospective Saudi investments. This article studies in detail India–Saudi Arabia trade, its export and Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 44, No. 2, 323 – 334, March 2008