The UAE continues to expand partnership agreements

During 2024, the UAE signed new comprehensive economic partnership agreements, in addition to previous agreements that entered into force with India, Turkey, Indonesia, and Israel, which contributed to reducing customs duties, removing barriers to trade, and opening market opportunities for exporters and investors.

The signing of the agreements comes within the framework of the UAE’s strategy to increase its non-oil trade to four trillion dirhams, and boost its exports to 800 billion dirhams by 2031.

In January 2024, the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between the UAE and Cambodia entered into force. The implementation of the agreement opens broad horizons for enhancing trade movement between the two countries, and includes a wide range of goods, providing Emirati companies with more opportunities to access the diverse consumer market in Cambodia.

Last July, the UAE signed a comprehensive economic partnership agreement with Mauritius, in an agreement that is the first of its kind concluded by the UAE with an African country.

Under the agreement, Mauritius will cancel 99% of customs duties on imports from the UAE, while the UAE will cancel 97% of those duties. The agreement will contribute to deepening trade and investment relations, accelerating the pace of growth in priority sectors, and will also support the creation of job opportunities and strengthen supply chains.

Today, the UAE is the eighth largest investor in Mauritius, having allocated $13.2 billion to support projects in the fields of tourism, real estate, renewable energy and technology.

In October 2024, the UAE announced the exchange of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with Serbia, so that the agreement will contribute to removing or reducing duties in customs tariff lines and unnecessary barriers to trade, protecting intellectual property rights, and supporting small and medium-sized companies, as well as facilitating mutual investment flows, while it promises The UAE is the third largest market for Serbian exports in the Middle East.

In October 2024, the UAE signed the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with Jordan, with the agreement contributing to stimulating mutual trade flows by removing trade restrictions.

Jordan is currently the third largest Arab trading partner of the UAE, outside the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. The UAE is also the largest global investor in Jordan, with estimates indicating that mutual investments between the two countries will reach about $22.5 billion. When the agreement enters into force, its contribution is expected. In increasing these numbers to higher levels, stimulating the growth of opportunities across multiple sectors, including renewable energy, industrial projects, manufacturing, transportation, pharmaceuticals and food processing.

Last November, the UAE signed a comprehensive economic partnership agreement with Australia. This historic agreement is the first of its kind that Australia has concluded with a country in the Middle East and North Africa region, and constitutes an important addition to the program of comprehensive economic partnership agreements, which the UAE has continued to implement since its announcement. In September 2021.

The agreement is expected to push the value of non-oil bilateral trade between the two countries to $15 billion annually by 2032, an increase more than threefold, compared to its value in 2023 of $4.23 billion, as well as reducing customs duties on most goods exchanged.

The country also signed a comprehensive economic partnership agreement with Korea, establishing a new era of economic growth and enhancing constructive cooperation in various economic, trade and investment sectors, with one of the strongest economies in the world.