Trade UAE-Ukraine trade deal to increase GDP by $1bn By Neil Halligan February 18, 2025, 4:38 PM Abdulla Albedwawi/UAE Presidential Court/Handout via Reuters President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky met Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of the UAE. The Cepa is the first Ukraine has signed with a Gulf country Cepa signed to increase trade Allows customs exemptions New partnerships expected The UAE and Ukraine have signed a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (Cepa) that is expected to increase GDP in the two countries by $1 billion over the next six years. The Cepa allows 99 percent of Ukrainian imports of UAE goods and 97 percent of Ukrainian exports to the UAE to be exempt from customs duties with immediate effect. The agreement also covers services, investment and digital trade. The deal will create a new platform for investment partnerships between business communities in both countries, focusing on infrastructure, heavy industries, aviation, space sciences and IT. The UAE’s president, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, said the agreement “signals a new era of trade and investment collaboration”. President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, said trade between the two countries amounted to $1.15 billion before the Russian invasion. Trade decreased in the years since the conflict started but has started to grow again. Gulf-South America trade surges as economies grow Indonesia and UAE plan to double bilateral trade UAE and India in talks to expand annual trade beyond $100bn Bilateral trade between the UAE and Ukraine reached $372.4 million in 2024. The agreement is expected to contribute $369 million to the UAE’s GDP and $874 million to Ukraine’s GDP by 2031. The Cepa agreement is the first that Ukraine has signed with a Gulf country. It is part of the UAE’s programme to increase its non-oil trade to $1.1 trillion by 2031 and double the size of its economy to over $800 billion by 2030. Launched in September 2021, the UAE has signed 24 Cepa agreements, covering countries with a combined population of about 2.5 billion. President Zelensky’s visit to the UAE comes ahead of a planned visit to Saudi Arabia, where he will meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for bilateral discussions. The visit has been postponed until March. A meeting is being held in Riyadh this week between senior Russian and US officials to discuss ways of ending the three-year conflict between Russia and Ukraine. UAE-Ukraine ties In 2020, DP World acquired a 51 percent stake in TIS Pivdennyi container terminal in Odessa. Masdar, parent company Mubadala Investment Company, and DTEK, signed an agreement in 2021 to explore potential clean energy investments in Ukraine. The number of Ukrainian businesses setting up in Dubai rose by about 25 percent following the outbreak of war. The Ukrainian Business Council said there were an estimated 1,500 Ukrainian businesses operating in Dubai prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The UAE has dispatched more than $100 million worth of aid to support various humanitarian initiatives in Ukraine, including relief and medical supplies, electric generators, laptops, winter clothes and blankets. Arcera, a global life sciences company launched by the Abu Dhabi-based wealth fund ADQ earlier this month, has a manufacturing and packaging base in Ukraine. The Ukrainian poultry business MHP, which exports to the UKAE, announced an agreement in 2023 to open a greenfield hatchery in Saudi Arabia to produce up to 108 million eggs a year.
