More Turkish companies open in UAE after trade deal

DMCC

• Leap of 11% after Cepa
• Fastest growing partnership
• Energy companies lead way

A free trade agreement between the UAE and Turkey has been followed by a jump in the number of Turkish companies opening offices in the UAE. 

The signing of the comprehensive economic partnership agreement (Cepa) between the two nations in March 2023 was designed to create greater collaboration and remove tariffs on a range of products. 

“The Cepa is having a direct positive effect on the decisions made by many Turkish companies setting up in the UAE,” said Tarik Tamimi, CEO of Tamimi Consulting in Dubai. 

“Around 90 percent of these companies are SMEs but the remaining 10 percent  are large and contribute most to the revenue generated in the UAE.” 

Since 2010, Tamimi Consulting has advised more than 1,000 Turkish companies that now have offices in the UAE, and assisted Emirati firms now present in Turkey.  

Turkey has emerged as the fastest growing among the UAE’s top 10 global trading partners and currently sits, according to Tamimi, in fourth position.

Bilateral trade more than doubled to $20 billion in 2023 compared to the previous year. In the first half of 2024 trade between the two countries rose by 15 percent.

The infrastructure and trade facilitation arrangements made possible under the Cepa place special focus on industries with optimal value for bilateral growth, including precious metals, jewellery and energy. 

Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) opened a representative office in Istanbul twelve months ago to build closer ties with the country. Last month the free trade zone announced a rise of 11 percent year on year in Turkish companies joining its business district, bringing it to a total of 643. 

Energy companies and the food and agricultural industries hold the top positions for numbers of Turkish firms based in the DMCC, each sector with more than 80 companies, making up a combined 26 percent of the total.

These are followed by construction, with more than 70 Turkish companies now based in the DMCC, and the technology and telecom industries, with more than 60.

Turkey’s trade minister, Omer Bolat, announced this month that his country was aiming to increase trading with the UAE substantially over the next five years.

“Our main goal under the bilateral trade agreement and comprehensive economic partnership is to raise trade volume to $40 billion within five years,” he said.