New Delhi: India and United Arab Emirates (UAE) Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on manpower which will facilitate Indians workers who are headed to the Gulf country.

It is estimated there are around 17.5 lakh (1.7 million) Indians in the UAE, constituting the largest expatriate community in that country. Out of this, about 13.5 lakh (1.3 million) are migrant workers, mostly employed in construction, services and household sectors.

Union Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi signed the MoU with Saqr Ghobash Saeed Ghobash, Minister of Labour of UAE.

According to a ministry statement, Ravi said the revised MoU will boost the Web Based Attestation Procedure for employment contracts for emigrant workers in UAE by the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi.

The revised MoU deals with issues like facilitation of recruitment of Indian manpower for working in the UAE, responsibilities of the employers and workers, generation of employment opportunity, and protection of workers under the labour laws of the host country.

The initial MoU was signed between India and the UAE in December 2006 to address the problems faced by the Indian emigrant workers in the UAE.

India-UAE trade, valued at $180 million per annum in the 1970s, today stands at around $44 billion, making UAE India's largest trading partner. There is an estimated $6 billion UAE investment in India, of which about $1.92 billion is in the form of foreign direct investment (FDI), while the remaining is portfolio investment.

UAE is the tenth biggest investor in India in terms of FDI. The annual remittances made by the large Indian community in UAE amount to over $5 billion. They had actively invested in the past in the various bonds floated by India such as Resurgent India Bonds and the India Millennium Bonds.

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