$40 billion.. volume of bilateral trade between UAE and Turkey

The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) signed by the UAE and Turkey last week will more than double the volume of bilateral trade to $40 billion over the next five years, creating joint opportunities in priority sectors.

The agreement aims to eliminate or reduce customs duties on 82 percent of goods and products, or more than 93 percent of non-oil intra-trade components.

Double the bilateral trade

The agreement also effectively contributes to doubling non-oil bilateral trade from its current value to $40 billion annually within 5 years and creating 25,000 new job opportunities in the two countries by 2031.

Trade volume

Trade between the UAE and Turkey jumped 40 percent in 2022 compared to the previous year. The data indicates that non-oil exports from the UAE to Turkey amounted to $5.6 billion in 2022, an increase of 109 percent compared to 2021, while the value of re-exports from the UAE to the world grew by 87 percent to reach $2.3 billion in 2022.

Turkey is an important trading partner for the UAE and may be a gateway to parts of Europe. The partnership agreement is also expected to generate significant opportunities for companies and investors in both countries and in a range of sectors.

In 2021, Turkey announced that its goal is to become a country with a current account surplus, based on higher export volumes and the enhancement of its tourism revenues, in light of low interest rates, despite high inflation rates and a currency that has recently depreciated.

Turkish trade deficit

Data issued by the Ministry of Commerce indicates that the Turkish trade deficit increased by 138.4 percent in 2022 from the previous year to $110.19 billion, despite the increase in exports at an “all-time high,” and by 13 percent to $254.2 billion, but Imports jumped 34.3 percent to $364.4 billion.

It is not the first Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) entered into by the UAE. Before that, the UAE signed agreements with many countries, the first of which was with India in February 2022, which aims to increase non-oil bilateral trade to $100 billion in the next five years, in implementation of its strategic plans within the fifty-year plan.

The UAE Ministry of Economy had earlier announced its goal of finalizing a draft comprehensive partnership agreement with Georgia and Cambodia in the first quarter of this year.