PASSAGE TO DUBAI: A GEOECONOMIC ARTERY OF INFLUENCE

India-UAE trade is booming. More Indian firms are using the West Asian country's duty-free zones as a launchpad to go global. People-to-people links remain strong as ever

- SHASHI THAROOR

FTER an absence of almost a year, I found myself making a couple of visits to Dubai, and I must say I am more impressed than ever. It’s a city that has never been content to accept the horizon as the boundary of possibility. In a landscape where sand once dictated limits, ambition now sketches skylines; where imagination once seemed speculative, innovation now stands in steel and glass.

Dubai’s transformation has not been driven by ambition alone, but by the systems that sustain ambition: transparent regulation, predictable frameworks, and institutions that function with consistency and foresight. It has shown that when policy, professionalism and preparedness move in harmony, a city evolves from a centre of activity into a model of confidence for the wider world.

While ambitious geopolitical projects like the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor grab headlines, a more powerful and dynamic economic artery is already pulsating between India and the UAE without any fanfare. There’s a bustling, organic ‘Delhi-Dubai Passage’ forged from an ever-rising exchange of business, people, and ideas. What you see in Dubai is one of the world’s most exciting geoeconomic sites, a powerful nexus of commerce, strategy, and cultural exchange that’s quietly reshaping the possibilities for India.