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UAE adds New Zealand to long list of trade partners

By Gavin Gibbon
Hon Todd McClay, Member for Rotorua, National Party, Minister of Trade at Parliament House in Wellington, New Zealand, Tuesday, December 12, 2023. (AAP Image/Mark Coote) NO ARCHIVINGNo Use Australia. No Use New Zealand. Todd McClay, New Zealand's minister for trade, said the deal will eliminate duties on 98.5 percent of New Zealand’s exports Mark Coote/AAP via Reuters Connect
Todd McClay, New Zealand's minister for trade, said the deal will eliminate duties on 98.5 percent of New Zealand’s exports
  • UAE and New Zealand sign Cepa
  • 12th country to sign deal
  • Trade ‘holds outstanding potential’

The UAE’s plans to increase non-oil foreign trade to AED4 trillion ($1 trillion) by 2031 took another step forward on Thursday as New Zealand became the 12th country to sign a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (Cepa) with the Gulf state.

The deal will reduce or remove tariffs, eliminate barriers to trade, improve market access and promote investment in both countries, according to a government statement.

The UAE accounts for half of New Zealand’s trade with the Middle East and North Africa region, and tenth largest globally.

“New Zealand is a nation that holds outstanding potential across a number of industry verticals,” said Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, UAE minister of state for foreign trade.

Bilateral non-oil trade between the UAE and New Zealand reached more than US$460 million (AED1.7 billion)  in the first half of 2024, up 11.5 percent on the first six months of last year.

New Zealand dairy exports to the UAE amounted to NZ$718 million (AED1.6 billion), industrial products NZ$237 million, red meat NZ$46 million, horticulture NZ$44 million and tourism NZ$31 million.

Over the same period New Zealand imported NZ$152 million of products and services from the UAE, including plastics, carpets, travel services and glass.

“Our comprehensive economic partnership agreement with the UAE will eliminate duties on 98.5 percent of New Zealand’s exports immediately on entry into force, rising to 99 percent within three years,” said Todd McClay, New Zealand’s minister of trade.

The agreement was reached in just over four months, after negotiations began in May.

New Zealand joins a host of countries to have signed up to trade deals with the UAE, including Australia, India, Cambodia, Kenya, Morocco and Georgia.

In the first half of this year the UAE’s non-oil trade in goods reached almost AED1.4 trillion (US$380 billion), a record, and an 11 percent increase in foreign trade compared to the same period last year.

UAE-New Zealand trade

  • Emirates resumed flights of its A380 superjumbo to Christchurch last year after a hiatus of more than three years. Christchurch, on New Zealand’s South Island, is the smallest city in Emirates’ A380 network.
  • The UAE signed a partnership arrangement with Fiji and New Zealand in December to develop the second phase of the Lakaro Renewable Energy Project in Fiji. The UAE’s contribution of $1.5 million to the project on the islands of Lakeba, Kadevu and Rotuma aims to add a battery bank and replace diesel generators with a renewable energy system.
  • GCC economies make up New Zealand’s eighth-largest trade partner, with exports led by dairy products, meat, cereal and fruit and nuts.

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