The United Arab Emirates made significant progress in implementing its foreign economic strategy in 2025, signing five new agreements under the Comprehensive Economic Partnership (CEPA) program, WAM has reported. New agreements with Malaysia, New Zealand, Kenya, Ukraine and the Central African Republic bring the total number of such agreements to 26, of which six have already entered into force, and another 14 are undergoing technical adaptation and ratification.
The intensification of CEPA signings was a response to the challenges of the global supply chain and the growing need for strategic trade diversification. The governments participating in the agreements emphasize the UAE’s openness to integration with economies that demonstrate dynamic growth, as well as its readiness to provide national businesses with new sales markets, especially in regions that were previously outside the zone of the emirate’s traditional economic influence.
The CEPA program is becoming a key tool
The CEPA initiative, which has become the core of the country’s foreign trade policy, strengthens the UAE’s position as a global trade hub focused on multilateral cooperation. Negotiations with six other countries, including Japan, were completed in 2025, and the signing of relevant agreements is expected in the near future. This dynamics indicates a high degree of institutional trust in the Emirates and their ability to form economic alliances with leading countries in Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe.
Analytical data confirms the effectiveness of CEPA – for example, non-oil trade with India increased by 20.5% in 2024, and exports from the UAE to this country increased by 75%. Trade turnover with Turkey increased by more than 11%, with Indonesia – by 15%, and with Georgia – a record growth of 56%. These figures indicate that even in the short term, CEPA is able to generate significant macroeconomic effects, which usually manifest themselves only over a few years.
Foreign trade transformation
The positive changes caused by CEPA are already affecting the structure of the UAE’s foreign trade today. The country is close to the goals of the “We, UAE 2031” program, which envisages increasing the volume of non-oil foreign trade to 4 trillion dirhams and exports to 800 billion dirhams over the next six years.
The impact of the agreements extends beyond quantitative indicators to a qualitative modernization of the country’s export profile. High-potential sectors such as logistics, green energy, advanced technologies, financial services, agribusiness and sustainable food systems are particularly benefiting. Through new trade routes and simplified customs barriers, these sectors gain direct access to markets with high consumption capacity or strategic resources.
The CEPA program, which began as a tool for economic acceleration after the pandemic, is transforming into a foundation for long-term growth, strengthening the UAE’s international influence and its ability to act as an architect of global economic integration.