Civil aviation minister Ajit Singh said on Wednesday the decision to hike the number of seats on the India-United Arab Emirates (UAE) routes over and above the recommendations of an inter-ministerial group was influenced by the overall economic interests of the nation.
"There are so many factors we have to consider apart from passenger growth and connectivity. We have to look at what impact (the enhancement of traffic rights) will have on our bilateral ties," the minister told Business Standard. "We have excellent relations with the UAE. Abu Dhabi is its capital and the richest emirate (in the UAE). India has already enhanced traffic rights for Dubai and Sharjah.. There are so many considerations. We need to see how it will impact our trade and investment."
Singh echoed commerce ministry Anand Sharma's views, who was involved in consultations on the issue. In one of the pre-negotiation consultative meeting on April 22, Sharma had said granting additional traffic rights to Abu Dhabi would create a favourable sentiment towards India in that emirate and would be helpful in attracting investment from the Abu Dhabi sovereign fund.
04/07/13 Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard
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"There are so many factors we have to consider apart from passenger growth and connectivity. We have to look at what impact (the enhancement of traffic rights) will have on our bilateral ties," the minister told Business Standard. "We have excellent relations with the UAE. Abu Dhabi is its capital and the richest emirate (in the UAE). India has already enhanced traffic rights for Dubai and Sharjah.. There are so many considerations. We need to see how it will impact our trade and investment."
Singh echoed commerce ministry Anand Sharma's views, who was involved in consultations on the issue. In one of the pre-negotiation consultative meeting on April 22, Sharma had said granting additional traffic rights to Abu Dhabi would create a favourable sentiment towards India in that emirate and would be helpful in attracting investment from the Abu Dhabi sovereign fund.
04/07/13 Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard
