The UAE-Israel Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, which was signed on May 31, 2022, will come into effect on April 1, this year. This means that tariffs will be removed or reduced on more than 96 per cent of product lines, which covers 99 per cent of the current value of traded goods between the UAE and Israel.
The UAE-Israel CEPA is now the second of the UAE's new foreign-trade deals to be ratified following the successful rollout of the UAE-India CEPA in May 2022.
In addition to the new tariff structures, the agreement with Israel removes unnecessary barriers to trade, improves market access for services suppliers, opens opportunities in government procurement, provides a platform for SMEs to expand internationally, establishes parameters for digital trade, protects intellectual property, and creates transparent trade remedy mechanisms.
The CEPA is designed to push UAE-Israel non-oil bilateral trade from the USD 1.3 billion recorded in 2021 to USD 10 billion by the end of the decade. In 2022, bilateral non-oil trade reached USD 2.49 billion, a 90 per cent increase on 2021's total, with re-exports from Israel growing 71.2 per cent and non-oil exports to Israel climbing 48.6 per cent.
The full details of the new tariff structures, rules of origin eligibility, as well as information on market access conditions for services suppliers, are now available on the Ministry of Economy's.
Businesses, exporters or agencies are invited to direct specific queries on the terms of the deal to a panel of expert CEPA advisors by e-mail to [email protected]
The UAE-Israel CEPA is a part of the UAE's new trade agenda and efforts to double the size of the economy from AED 1.4 trillion to AED 3 trillion by 2030. The UAE has now concluded CEPAs with India, Israel, Indonesia, Turkey and Georgia.
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