UAE, European Union see progress in clinching trade deal
The UAE and the European Union are moving closer to a trade agreement that would give the emirates consolidated access to the world’s largest trading bloc while reinforcing the country’s own status as a global logistics hub.
A deal between the UAE and the EU could also be key to unlocking a wider agreement between the 27-member bloc and the Gulf Cooperation Council, a stop-start negotiation which has not yielded consensus in the 35 years since talks started.
Dr. Thani Al Zeyoudi, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade, met with the EU’s trade chief Maros Sefcovic in Dubai on Wednesday to launch the talks officially over a potential Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, the UAE’s framework for the dozens of trade deals it has made since 2021 to diversify its economy.
During his visit to the emirate, Sefcovic also met with the private sector to discuss opportunities for increased investment flows. The EU currently accounts for $67.6 billion in non-oil trade with the Emirates, 8.3% of the UAE’s total trade.
Speaking to reporters alongside Sefcovic, Al Zeyoudi said the UAE wants to seal a deal with the EU “in a very short period, three to six months from now.”
The Emirati cabinet minister added he did not see the talks as a hurdle for a future EU deal with the GCC and noted that bilateral talks with New Zealand and South Korea had led to trade agreements with the GCC, Reuters reports.
“We are seeing it’s a flow which is going to be starting from here and moving to the GCC,” he said. “Usually, the blocs are much slower than the bilateral, and that’s why we’re starting here, so we can move quickly.”
New Zealand, UAE reach terms for signing free-trade pact
New Zealand and the UAE have reached a free-trade agreement after four months of negotiations.
The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement will eliminate duties on as much as 99% of New Zealand’s exports to the Gulf state, according to Trade Minister Todd McClay.
“This will create new opportunities for New Zealand businesses in the dynamic UAE market, contributing to our ambitious target of doubling exports by value in 10 years,” McClay said in a statement issued on Thursday.
Trade between the two countries reached $814 million for the year ending June 2024, he said.
UAE signs free trade agreement with Mauritius, first in Africa
The UAE’s steady campaign to conclude free trade agreements with partner nations around the world has reached Africa.
In a ceremony on Monday, senior leaders of the UAE and Mauritius met in Dubai to sign a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement that will eliminate more than 97% of all import tariffs between the two countries.
Dr. Thani Al Zeyoudi, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade, and Maneesh Gobin, the Mauritius Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade, signed the document while Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth looked on via video link.
In the past three years, the UAE has signed free-trade pacts with India, Israel, Indonesia, Turkey, Cambodia and Georgia.
The agreement with Mauritius was the first with an African country. The UAE is also seeking to reopen trade talks with the EU by the end of the year, Al Zeyoudi told Reuters on Monday.
