UAE’s CEPA pacts to grow economy by 2.6% by 2030 – minister

The UAE’s comprehensive economic partnership agreements (CEPA) with India, Israel and Indonesia will help grow the national economy by 2.6 per cent by 2030, Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, has said.

The agreement with India was signed in February this year, while the pact with Israel was inked in May.

Read: UAE and India sign Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement

Read: UAE, Israel sign comprehensive economic partnership agreement

The agreement with Indonesia, meanwhile, was signed earlier this month. Going forward, July 2022 will witness the announcement of a CEPA with Colombia, the minister said to the official state agency WAM.

Read: UAE, Indonesia sign comprehensive economic partnership agreement

“After the signing of the CEPA with Indonesia, we now have access to a large market with 1.7 billion people, including 1.4 billion people in India and 280 million in Indonesia, in addition to nearly 10 million people in Israel,” Al Zeyoudi said.

“About a year ago, we spoke about covering markets that account for four billion people from the Far East to West Africa,” he added. The three CEPAs have opened large markets to achieve national economy’s growth, with preliminary figures pointing out that the first CEPA with India is expected to achieve a 1.7 per cent growth in the national economy by 2030 while the CEPA with Indonesia is expected to achieve a 0.87 per cent increase, he noted. However, he did not specify how much the deal with Israel will boost the national economy.

The UAE is open to the world’s countries in terms of signing agreements, and those willing to move forward with the agreement signing process will be prioritised, Al Zeyoudi further added. The country is also in negotiations with Turkey.

“We have started the CEPA signing negotiation process with several African and East Asian countries and Georgia. The country is also coordinating with Chile in this regard,” he said.

In 2021, as part of its Projects of the 50 initiative, the UAE embarked upon a programme of enhancing bilateral trade relations with key global partners.