UAE and Australia sign major economic agreement

The UAE and Australia have signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), witnessed by H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The agreement marks a new chapter in bilateral relations aimed at increasing trade, promoting private-sector collaboration, and facilitating investment flows, and comes after talks concluded in September. 

The signing took place during Sheikh Abdullah’s working visit to Canberra. The agreement was signed by Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, and Don Farrell, Australian Minister for Trade and Tourism.

Once ratified, the deal will be Australia’s first trade agreement with a country in the MENA region and represents an important addition to the UAE’s CEPA programme. The deal is expected to propel bilateral non-oil trade to over $15 billion by the year 2032 – a threefold increase on the $4.23 billion recorded in 2023.

H.H. Sheikh Abdullah said the CEPA was the latest milestone in a foreign trade policy that is reaping considerable rewards- “The signing of a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between the UAE and Australia is a clear demonstration of our desire to build bridges of cooperation and mutual benefit across the globe."

"Australia has long been an economic partner and trusted friend, with well-established links across trade, culture and sport, and this agreement will deepen these bonds and create greater opportunity for our businesses to collaborate and grow,” His Highness commented.

The UAE-Australia agreement builds on growing economic relations between the two countries, with bilateral non-oil trade reaching $2.3 billion in the first half of 2024, an increase of 10.1 per cent from H1 2023.

The UAE is Australia’s leading trade partner in the Middle East and its 20th largest partner globally. As of 2023, the two countries have also committed a combined $14 billion to each other’s economies, with more than 300 Australian businesses operating in the UAE in sectors such as construction, financial services, agriculture, and education.

Importantly, this CEPA features dedicated chapters to enhance cooperation between the UAE and Australia on areas such as the environment, women empowerment, sustainable agriculture and food systems, and animal welfare.

In addition to the CEPA, six further agreements were signed during the high-level UAE delegation’s visit to Australia, strengthening the partnership between the two nations. These included an Agreement to Promote and Protect Investments between the UAE and Australia, and five Investment Cooperation memoranda of understanding (MoUs) to facilitate and promote two-way investment in sectors of national priority including Green and Renewable Energy, Infrastructure and Development, Data Centres and Artificial Intelligence Projects, Minerals and Mining, and Food and Agriculture.

The UAE’s CEPA programme is a key pillar of the nation’s growth strategy, which targets US$1 trillion in total trade value by 2031 and aims to double the size of the wider economy to surpass US$800 billion by 2030.

To date, agreements implemented in the programme, which was launched in September 2021, span the Middle East, Africa, Southeast Asia, South America, and Eastern Europe and encompass almost a quarter of the world’s population.