ABU DHABI // After almost four years in the UAE, the Indian ambassador left the country on Tuesday night to take up his new post in Switzerland.
“I feel like my time in the UAE was very productive because the relationship itself was very substantial and diverse based on historical and fraternal relations,” said M K Lokesh.
“We’ve been close to each other for many centuries. We’re the largest trading partner and the largest expatriate community here.”
Although many milestones were achieved during his term, some labour issues still need to be tackled. The embassy set out three years ago to compile, with the help of the Ministry of Labour, a database of labour contracts.
“It is still not functional but it is an important step,” he said. “It’s an online attestation system for labour contracts and it’s still in the pipeline. We’re awaiting clearance from the local authorities.”
He said the system was functioning to some extent between the Indian embassy and the authorities in India.
“Once it comes online, it will be complete,” Mr Lokesh said. “In order for that to become really useful for the people here, the ministry has to join and I hope that it will be done to prevent contract substitution.”
He said most workers tended to shift professions a year after arriving in the UAE.
“They have issues declared as absconding by the employer and that creates problems,” Mr Lokesh said. “But we set up the India-UAE working group on consular affairs last year, we meet periodically and discuss these issues.”
He said there had been many achievements, with the establishment of the Indian Workers Resource Centre in Dubai, which provides free legal, medical and social counselling.
“Most of the problems are resolved at that level itself,” Mr Lokesh said. “The welfare of labourers is an ongoing process, there is a large number here and they have so many problems but, at the broad level, we have taken many initiatives which I feel have really helped them to a great extent.”
Another initiative set up was the pension scheme for labourers.
“It’s important, although modest in its goals,” he said. “Most of them don’t have access to banks and savings so this gives them some means of savings for the future.”
Sheikh Khalifa, the President of the UAE, awarded Mr Lokesh the Order of Independence of the first degree in appreciation for his work on bilateral relations.
“It was a very productive partnership, even when I came, so it was easy for me to push it further,” he said. “Some issues cropped up like the cancellation of the Etisalat licence and some investments from the UAE in India.
“That took a lot of time for us to resolve the issues because they were casting a shadow over our relations but my effort was to increase the exchange at the high level, which I felt was very important.
“The relationship gets a boost when there is understanding at the high level.”
Mr Lokesh said he hoped his successor would focus on increasing investments between the countries.
“We feel that this is an area where the full potential has not been exploited because Indians are also investing a lot in the UAE,” he said.
“Many investments have also come from here, like DP World and Etisalat, but we want to increase it and that’s an area where both sides have agreed there is a lot of potential.”
In that context, Mr Lokesh said the major hurdle was a lack of an agreement between the countries on investment protection.
“But last week, we signed the UAE-India Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement and that itself is a major step forward to encourage investments between the two countries,” he said.
“With US$75 billion (Dh275bn) in trade between the UAE and India last year, it’s a healthy relationship and we don’t see any major hurdle now.
“It will definitely promote more investments and that is an area where our incoming ambassador should focus on.”
cmalek@thenational.ae
