The Head of State and the Prime Minister of New Zealand witness the signing ceremony of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement

The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between the UAE and New Zealand aims to raise the volume of annual bilateral trade to more than $5 billion by 2032.

Abu Dhabi, January 14 / WAM / His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the State, may God protect him, and His Excellency Christopher Luxon, Prime Minister of New Zealand, witnessed the signing of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between the two countries.
The agreement was signed at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center (ADNEC) by His Excellency Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, and His Excellency Todd Maclay, Minister of Trade of New Zealand.
The agreement aims to reduce trade barriers, improve customs procedures, and enhance cooperation and investment between private sector companies in the two countries.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan stressed that the agreement constitutes an important addition to the program of comprehensive economic partnership agreements in the UAE, noting that it strengthens ties with the Asia-Pacific region through one of its most developed and open markets.
His Highness explained that the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between the UAE and New Zealand embodies the ambition of the two friendly countries to build strong and flexible economies that are ready for the future and rely on knowledge, innovation and competencies. His Highness indicated that it will have a wide positive impact on our economies, our businesses and our people for generations to come.
It is noteworthy that the volume of non-oil bilateral trade between the UAE and New Zealand reached $642 million during the first nine months of 2024, an increase of 8% compared to the same period in 2023.

Under the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, UAE imports to New Zealand will enjoy 100% exemption from customs duties, while New Zealand products will enjoy 98.5% exemption from customs duties from the UAE, with this percentage rising to 99% within three years.
It is expected that the agreement will contribute to enhancing bilateral trade to five billion dollars by 2032, equivalent to three times the volume of joint trade between the UAE and New Zealand, which recorded $1.5 billion in the period from 2019 to 2023.
The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement represents New Zealand’s first trade agreement with a Middle Eastern country, and one of the most extensive comprehensive economic partnership agreements concluded by the UAE to date, covering the areas of local trade, sustainable development, women’s economic empowerment, and transparency.
The bilateral investment agreement on the protection and encouragement of investment, concluded in parallel with the agreement, will contribute to providing a solid framework that strengthens UAE-New Zealand investment relations across a wide range of sectors.
The UAE’s comprehensive economic partnership program forms a fundamental pillar of the country’s growth strategy, which aims to raise the total value of trade to one trillion US dollars by 2031 and double the size of the broader economy to exceed $800 billion by 2031.

The program, which was launched during September 2021, has so far concluded agreements with countries in the Middle East, Africa, Southeast Asia, South America and Eastern Europe, which has contributed to improving trade relations and access to markets that include about a quarter of the world’s population.

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