UAE investors have signed MoU worth $2.76bn with the Government of Odisha, India. The MoU was signed at the Investor’s Meet in Dubai with the state’s CM Naveen Patnaik on June 29.

Naveen Patnaik concluded a successful investment roadshow when he and his delegation held meeting with some of UAE’s key business groups to attract Foreign Direct Investment, involving Lulu Group, NBTC Group, Sharaf Group, Twenty Fourteen Holding and Tablez Group, ERAM Group, Sobha Group, Arab and India Spices LLC and Tabreed.

The announcement comes after the state approved more than 250 large-scale industrial and infrastructure project proposals collectively worth $50bn in sectors such as metals and metal downstream, chemicals and petrochemicals, textiles and apparel, food processing, logistics and clean energy in the last 2 years.

The investment proposals include INR1,500 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.

The Investors Meet was jointly organised with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Embassy of India in UAE. 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.

It was addressed by the Indian Ambassador to the UAE, Sanjay Sudheer who stressed on the significance of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), signed between the UAE and India, which reduces taxes and will help two-way trade and investment between India and the UAE to accelerate.

It was also platform to present various opportunities that Odisha offers to businesses in the UAE and the MENA region.