Trade

Former UK chancellor Zahawi calls for UAE trade talks

October 22, 2024, 5:05 PM

Former UK chancellor Nadhim Zahawi says a UK-UAE Cepa could be agreed "immediately" — Former UK chancellor Nadhim Zahawi says a UK-UAE Cepa could be agreed 'immediately'

Nadhim Zahawi wants UAE Cepa
GCC-wide talks ongoing
UAE UK’s 18th-largest trade partner

A former UK chancellor has called for the UK to initiate trade talks with the UAE as discussions over a UK-GCC-wide agreement head towards a seventh round.

Nadhim Zahawi said a standalone free trade deal between the UK and UAE would “accelerate a full trade agreement” with the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman.

“I think if we’re really smart in the United Kingdom, we would now be reaching out to the UAE to get a Cepa [comprehensive economic partnership agreement] in place as quickly as possible,” he told AGBI on the sidelines of the Alternative Investment Management Summit in Dubai.

Discussions over a GCC-wide trade deal have been ongoing for more than two years, with hopes that an agreement could be signed by the end of this year.

Zahawi, who was UK chancellor between July and September 2022, claimed a Cepa deal with the UAE could be done “immediately” and pointed to the success the UAE has had in completing similar agreements with Turkey and India.

Zahawi was also behind a bid to buy The Daily Telegraph and The Spectator from Abu Dhabi-backed RedBird IMI.

In total, the UAE has signed 12 Cepa deals with countries across the world as it looks to increase non-oil foreign trade to AED4 trillion ($1 trillion) by 2031. The UAE’s non-oil foreign trade reached a record AED1.4 trillion in the first half of this year.

The UAE was the UK’s 18th-largest trading partner in the 12 months up to the end of the first quarter of 2024, accounting for 1.4 percent of total trade, according to the latest figures from the Department for Business and Trade.

However, during that time, total trade in goods and services dropped 0.5 percent ($155 million) to $32.8 billion.

Giving a keynote speech on the opening day of the AIM event, former UK prime minister Boris Johnson urged attendees to “continue to invest both in the UK and in the UAE” and “believe in the long-term partnership” between the two countries.

Zahawi refused to comment on his attempts to buy The Daily Telegraph.

It was reported last week that Dovid Efune, owner of the New York Sun, had begun exclusive talks over the $550 million purchase of the newspaper, with six weeks to complete a deal.

“I really can’t comment on a commercial process at the moment, as you can imagine,” said Zahawi.