The UAE and India signed agreements for establishing a framework to promote the use of local currencies for cross-border transactions and co-operation for interlinking their payment and messaging systems.
The agreements were signed by Khaled Balama, Governor of the Central Bank of the UAE, and Shaktikanta Das, Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, in the presence of President Sheikh Mohamed and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
The agreement aims to put in place a local currency settlement system (LCSS) to promote the use of the Indian rupee and the dirham bilaterally, the RBI said in a statement on its website.
“The agreement covers all current account transactions and permitted capital account transactions,” it said.
“Creation of the LCSS would enable exporters and importers to invoice and pay in their respective domestic currencies, which in turn would enable the development of an INR-AED foreign exchange market.”
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This arrangement would promote investments and remittances between the countries, the regulator said.
Use of local currencies help to optimise transaction costs and settlement time for transactions, including for remittances from Indians residing in the UAE, it said.
The two countries also agreed to co-operate on linking their fast payment systems – India’s Unified Payments Interface with the UAE’s Instant Payment Platform – to ease cross-border money transfers.
Such arrangements typically lower the cost of payments.
The agreement will also explore linking their respective Card Switches (RuPay switch and UAESWITCH) for mutual acceptance of domestic cards and processing of card transactions.
The Central Bank of the UAE introduced UAESWITCH in 1996 to link the automated teller machine (ATM) network of all banks in the UAE.
The UAESWITCH provides regional and international connectivity with other similar national systems.
The two countries will also seek to link their payments messaging systems to facilitate bilateral financial messaging, the RBI said.
Meanwhile, Abdullah Al Marri, Minister of Economy, said the UAE and India have adopted a package of initiatives and joint action plans to expand sectors of the new economy in their markets and stimulate the growth of Emirati and Indian start-ups to increase their contribution to the growth of gross domestic product in the two countries.
The two countries are increasing economic co-operation in sectors of the circular economy, tourism, aviation, entrepreneurship, small and medium enterprises, renewable energy, technology, digital transformation and transportation, he told Wam.
Non-oil foreign trade between them reached Dh188.8 billion ($51.4 billion) in 2022, a growth of 15 per cent compared with 2021.
A year after their Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (Cepa) took effect, the two countries have strengthened their strategic relations, Dr Thani Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, also told Wam.
Bilateral non-oil trade reached $50.5 billion in the first 12 months of the Cepa signing.
The significant growth in the volume of bilateral non-oil trade signifies the Cepa’s progress, which puts it on track to reach $100 billion in non-oil trade annually by 2030, Dr Al Zeyoudi said.
The UAE signed its first Cepa with India in February last year and it took effect the following May.
The benefits of the Cepa include enhanced market access, lower or eliminated tariff rules, simpler customs procedures, clear and transparent rules, and rule-based competition.
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Top tips to avoid cyber fraud
Microsoft’s ‘hacker-in-chief’ David Weston, creator of the tech company’s Windows Red Team, advises simple steps to help people avoid falling victim to cyber fraud:
1. Always get the latest operating system on your smartphone or desktop, as it will have the latest innovations. An outdated OS can erode away all investments made in securing your device or system.
2. After installing the latest OS version, keep it patched; this means repairing system vulnerabilities which are discovered after the infrastructure components are released in the market. The vast majority of attacks are based on out of date components – there are missing patches.
3. Multi-factor authentication is required. Move away from passwords as fast as possible, particularly for anything financial. Cybercriminals are targeting money through compromising the users’ identity – his username and password. So, get on the next level of security using fingertips or facial recognition.
4. Move your personal as well as professional data to the cloud, which has advanced threat detection mechanisms and analytics to spot any attempt. Even if you are hit by some ransomware, the chances of restoring the stolen data are higher because everything is backed up.
5. Make the right hardware selection and always refresh it. We are in a time where a number of security improvement processes are reliant on new processors and chip sets that come with embedded security features. Buy a new personal computer with a trusted computing module that has fingerprint or biometric cameras as additional measures of protection.
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What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
