It will benefit majority of Indian expats in the Gulf who are from southern India, particularly Kerala
The southern Indian state of Kerala will host a UAE Consulate, according to Indian media quoting E Ahmed, the Minister of State for External Affairs. The city where the consulate will be located is to be identified by the UAE mission in India, reports said. The report could not be confirmed from the UAE Foreign Ministry.
The UAE currently has an embassy in capital New Delhi in north India and a consulate in Mumbai in the western part of the country. As the vast majority of Indian expatriates in the UAE are from southern Indian, particularly Kerala, Indians from there have to travel to either Delhi or Mumbai for documentation, export import business and emigration services.
KM Abdulla, Director and former chairman of Kerala Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told Emirates 24|7 from Kochi, that the KCCI has been talking with the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and other GCC countries, Malaysia and Australia to establish their consulates in the Kerala Trade Center, a project initiated by the chamber to facilitate single window clearance system for foreign investors and Indian migrant workers. Majority of Kerala migrants work in the Middle East, especially in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Abdulla said: "We have formally made a request to the UAE Government to set up their consulate in the Kerala Trade Center building, which is almost 90 per cent complete. Negotiations have been going on for four years now. We are also negotiating with the governments of Oman, Saudi Arabia, Australia and Malaysia to set up their consulates in the Kerala Trade Center."
Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Foreign Minister, was in India to meet senior leaders including Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Vice-President Mohammad Hamid Ansari and National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon in New Delhi on Monday, during a 24-hour visit to India. Top corporate leaders and senior officials from the UAE Foreign Ministry were part of the mission to look for opportunities particularly in the areas of shipping, aviation, telecommunications and energy.
"Nearly half of the NRIs in the Gulf are Keralites and there is every reason that the consulate should be in Kerala," a former Kerala Overseas Indian Minister was quoted earlier. The Indian Embassy in the UAE and Indian Consulate in Dubai did not confirm or deny the report saying they will be able to make any statement on the topic only after the Indian Ambassador to the UAE returns from India.
The UAE has considerable business and commercial interest in southern India, especially Kochi, where major projects like Smart City, DP World and other projects are based. "The opening of a consulate is a government to government issue. We have been in talks with the Indian Ministry of External Affairs and the new Minister of External Affairs, E Ahmed has been involved in our negotiations," Abdulla said.
About 2.5 million Keralites work and do business in different Gulf countries.
© Emirates 24|7 2011
