On 7th October 2024, President HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and HM King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan witnessed the signing of a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between the UAE and Jordan. The first CEPA to be signed between the UAE and an Arab nation, the deal aims to deepen bilateral trade and investment ties, accelerate growth in priority industries, create jobs, and strengthen supply chains.
The specific content of the CEPA have not been published yet, but the UAE has published the text of a number of CEPAs with other countries on the website of the Ministry of Economy.
The sectors which will benefit from the CEPA include renewable energy, industrial projects, manufacturing, transport, pharmaceuticals, food processing, logistics and tourism. This demonstrates the bilateral nature of the CEPA, for example certain sectors are of importance to the UAE such as food security, and the UAE has a strong record of exporting its know-how in areas such as renewable energy.
As with all CEPAs, it will be in compliance with international legislation such as GATT, GATS and any other relevant WTO requirements. These can be quite detailed and comprehensive agreements, with the CEPAs being over 300 pages in content excluding the lengthy Tariff Commitments on duties applied to goods to and from each country (and over 1,000 pages including these).
Other benefits of CEPAs have included the following:
- The removal of unnecessary technical barriers for exporters.
- The use of international standards as a basis for technical regulations.
- Enhanced access for UAE businesses to government procurement opportunities.
- Support for UAE companies through a price preference in UAE government procurement tenders.
- Assurance that UAE products will not be subject to the other country’s anti-dumping investigations as such products are merely transshipped.
- A Joint Committee to assess, revise and propose amendments to the CEPA, including improving market access.
This is another excellent example of the UAE’s commitment to the global stage and will hopefully encourage FDI as well as facilitate exports.
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