Today's Edition
MAYS IBRAHIM (ABU DHABI)
The UAE marked a milestone year for its international trade relations in 2025 as multiple Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements (CEPAs) with countries across Latin America, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, and the Arab world came into effect.
The agreements aim to boost trade, investment, and economic cooperation while reinforcing the UAE's position as a regional trade hub.
The UAE–Costa Rica CEPA, effective from April 1, eliminates or reduces tariffs on nearly all goods exchanged between the two nations and facilitates market access for services, government procurement, digital trade, and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
The pact also strengthens investment protection, customs efficiency, and dispute resolution frameworks.
On the same date, the UAE–Mauritius CEPA came into force, marking the UAE's first trade agreement with an African country.
Over 97% of goods traded between the two countries benefit from tariff reductions, while cooperation spans services, digital trade, government procurement, and investment facilitation.
Jordan became the UAE's first Arab CEPA partner when their agreement entered into force on May 15, providing preferential access for more than 98% of goods, enhancing services trade, digital trade, and investment, and supporting SMEs.
The UAE–Serbia CEPA, effective June 1, opens trade with a non-WTO country in the Balkans, with immediate tariff elimination on over 95% of goods and projected to contribute USD 351 million to UAE GDP by 2032.
Meanwhile, the UAE strengthened ties with Asia-Pacific partners through CEPAs with New Zealand (effective August 28), Australia (October 1), and Malaysia (October 1).
These agreements provide near-complete tariff elimination, streamlined customs procedures, services liberalisation, and provisions for sustainable development, digital trade, intellectual property rights, and women's economic empowerment.
The UAE–Chile CEPA, effective November 24, aims to triple non-oil trade by the end of the decade by reducing tariffs on 99.5% of bilateral trade, expanding services and investment access, and fostering sustainable economic cooperation across sectors including mining, agriculture, renewable energy, tourism, and digital services.
In 2025, the UAE also signed CEPA Agreements with Kenya, Central African Republic (CAR), Ukraine, and Azerbaijan.
The UAE CEPA program, initiated in 2021, continues to shape the country's export performance and deepen foreign trade linkages, contributing measurable outcomes in non-oil trade volumes and market diversification.
By the first half of 2025, the UAE's non-oil foreign trade reached approximately Dh1.728 trillion (about $470.3 billion), marking a 24% year-on-year increase compared with the same period in 2024 and more than double the 2021 figure, according to official trade data.
During the same period, non-oil exports climbed to Dh369.5 billion, up 44.7% year-on-year, while re-exports rose to Dh389 billion, an increase of 14% over H1 2024.
Exports to CEPA partner countries accounted for Dh85.02 billion of total non-oil exports, with India alone receiving Dh51.45 billion, a growth of 97.6% compared to 2024 for the same period, followed by Turkey with a value of Dh27.2 billion and a growth of 24.1%.
Foreign trade is integral to the UAE's vision to reach $1 trillion in total trade and double the size of its economy to over $800 billion by the end of the decade.
Over the past three years, the UAE has concluded a total of 31 free-trade agreements, and it continues to expand its CEPA network through ongoing negotiations with the European Union, Japan, Canada, and several African nations, including Egypt, Rwanda, Nigeria, and Chad.
