UAE - The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements (CEPA), which the UAE has concluded with 36 countries so far, have enabled the UAE’s non-oil foreign trade to surpass $1 trillion (AED3.8 trillion) in 2025, said a senior official.

During a panel discussion at the Make it in the Emirates 2026 in Abu Dhabi, Fahad Al Gergawi, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Trade, noted that these agreements target a group of global markets comprising 3 billion people.

He pointed out that all strategic programmes implemented by the UAE Government ultimately serve the interests of business sectors and private sector partners by simplifying regulatory processes and procedures for establishing, expanding, and growing businesses. 

He said: "Speed of achievement to realise the ambitions and vision of our leadership is the foundation of everything we do in the UAE. We are keen to put in place all enabling procedures for everyone to implement this."

The panel also included Khalfan Al Muhairi, Senior Vice President for the Middle East, Africa and Export at Borouge.

Experts said the UAE is moving forward with full confidence in expanding its strategic partnerships, which it began years ago, to open wide doors for UAE products, including services, goods, and advanced industrial exports, to enter mature, emerging, and promising markets, benefiting from bilateral cooperation agreements and the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements programme launched five years ago.

While the UAE’s non-oil foreign trade grew by 27 percent in 2025 compared to the previous year, and the contribution of the In-Country Value programme exceeded AED473 billion redirected into the national economy, speakers at the Make it in the Emirates 2026 platform affirmed that the dual growth of international trade exchange and national content in the UAE sends an open invitation to the world to benefit from the solid foundations and available opportunities for expansion, innovation, and development in the country, now and in the future.

Al Muhairi affirmed the pivotal role of the CEPA in facilitating the export of specialised products developed by Borouge and other UAE industries to new global markets.

He said that bilateral agreements have direct and strategic impacts, enabling partner countries importing UAE industrial products to obtain high-quality products with unprecedented facilitation.

He emphasised the importance of artificial intelligence databases in providing seamless and rapid access to regulatory frameworks for intra-trade, applicable customs rules, and commercial services available to manufacturers in the UAE.

He pointed out that the successful establishment of Borouge International, completed in the first quarter of 2026, contributed to the creation of the world’s fourth-largest polyolefin producer in terms of nominal production capacity.

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