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01 Oct, 2021
The India Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai is all set to display the emergence of a New India to the world, officials said as they unveiled the pavilion during the first media tour on Wednesday.
“This is the first big in-person meeting we are looking at after the COVID-19 pandemic to show our dynamism and growth,” India's Ambassador to the UAE Pavan Kapoor said during the media tour of India Pavilion at the Dubai Expo 2020 site.
“We want to give a one-stop look at india. We want to showcase everything from space to other high tech areas and cities on the move...and give a glimpse of the rich culture and heritage of India,” he added.
With India and the UAE launching formal negotiations for a comprehensive economic partnership agreement in New Delhi on Wednesday, he said efforts have been launched to further boost the bilateral trade.
The India-UAE bilateral trade, which stood at $60billion, had dipped to around $43billion due to the impact of the pandemic, according to Kapoor.
With the Expo expected to boost the trade and investment opportunities in a big way, he said hopes are back to further push the bilateral trade to $100billion over the next five years.
“This is a huge opportunity to meet with the rest of the world and to showcase the investment opportunities,” he said.
He said India is keen to focus on IT and start ups.
With over 50,000 startups in India we would like to offer them an amazing opportunity here,” said the Ambassador.
For that an “India Innovation Hub” will be set up based at the pavilion. “It will be a mobile platform where young, bright minds from india will engage with their global counterparts on a range of issues...space technologies, robotics etc,” he added.
Touching on the cultural events and festival celebrations at the pavilion, Kapoor said: “We will have big celebrations of our important festivals here. Even the Expo authorities will be marking Diwali celebrations in a very big way.”
There will be several shows related to 75 years of India and the golden jubilee of the UAE, he said.
Given the role of the Indian expat community in the UAE, he said their participation will be integral at the India Pavilion.
“Schools and community groups will be participating in the events throughout the EXPO.”
Being a legacy building, that will remain a permanent structure, he said the India Pavilion will ultimately be used by the expat community with some elements of business, culture, innovation and start ups.
All Indian states will have participation at the pavilion over 26 weeks, said Dilip Chenoy, secretary-general, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
“Five states are taking the lead for two weeks each and the rest are taking one week each,” he added.
Chenoy also said apart from the daily cultural programmes, there will be screenings of award winning movies of various Indian languages also.
