UAE investors have signed memoranda of understanding (MoUs) worth $2.76 billion (Rs 21,800 crore) with the government of India’s Odisha state after meeting state chief minister Naveen Patnaik in Dubai. Patnaik recently concluded an investment roadshow in the city, including an Investor’s Meet, where he met some of UAE’s key business groups to attract foreign direct investment (FDI).

The business groups that met Patnaik included the Lulu Group, NBTC Group, Sharaf Group, Twenty Fourteen Holding and Tablez Group, ERAM Group, Sobha Group, Arab and India Spices LLC and Tabreed.

The Investors Meet was jointly organised with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the Embassy of India in the United Arab Emirates.

The announcement comes after the state approved more than 250 large-scale industrial and infrastructure project proposals worth $50 billion in sectors such as metals and metal downstream, chemicals and petrochemicals, textiles and apparel, food processing, logistics and clean energy in the last two years, UAE media reported.

The investment proposals include 1,500 crores investment by UAE-based multinational retail conglomerate Lulu Group International which signed a MoU to explore investment opportunities in Odisha to set up hypermarkets, shopping malls and agriculture and seafood sourcing and processing hubs in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Rourkela.

It was attended by more than 150 companies based out of the UAE and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region from various sectors. Leading industry associations from the region including Indian Business and Professional Council (IBPC) also participated in the event.

Turkish textiles to get boost as Israel set to reopen economic office

Meanwhile, Israel’s ministry of economy and industry is all set to reopen its economic office in Turkiye’s capital city of Istanbul on August 1 this year. This will give a boost to Turkiye’s textile and apparel exports to Israel. Turkiye was the fourth most important trading partner in the Israeli economy and the fifth most important export destination in 2021.

For Israel, the reopening of the economic attaché in Istanbul will benefit about 1540 companies currently exporting to the Turkish market and help strengthen their business operations within this market, according to the Foreign Trade Administration of the Israeli ministry.

The Israel-Turkiye bilateral trade of goods and services stood at $7.7 billion in 2021 with an increase of 30 per cent over 2020. Of this Israel’s exports accounted for $1.9 billion, also 30 per cent increase compared to $1.4 billion in 2020.

In the textile and apparel sector, the flow of goods is majorly from Turkiye to Israel, which is now expected to pick up further momentum after the economic office is opened. Israel imported apparel worth $319.380 million in 2021, $219.838 million in 2020 and $234.280 million in 2019 from Turkiye. In the first quarter of this year, the figure stood at $92.898 million, according to Fibre2Fashion’s market insight tool TexPro.

During January-March 2022, Israel imported home textiles valued at $20.282 million, as per TexPro. The home textile imports were $81.317 million in 2021, $48.159 million in 2020 and $42.157 million in 2019.