Economic partnership: UAE completes landmark free trade deal with Colombia

The UAE and Colombia have completed a comprehensive economic partnership agreement to strengthen trade and investment relations between the two countries, paving the way for the first bilateral trade agreement between two countries, one in the Gulf and the other in South America.

Non-oil trade between the UAE and Colombia exceeded $380 million in 2022. In the first half of 2023, the volume of non-oil bilateral trade increased by 120% compared to the same period in 2022.

UAE’s Minister of State for Foreign Trade, Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, and Germain Umaña, Colombia’s Minister of Industry, Trade, and Tourism, signed a joint statement to complete the talks on this Convention with a view to its subsequent formal signing.

The Convention removes or reduces tariffs on most production lines, removes unnecessary barriers to trade, improves market access, and deepens cooperation in the areas of digital trade, financial services, communications, energy, environment, hospitality, tourism, infrastructure, agriculture, and food production.

Colombia is South America’s fourth-largest economy, a major coffee exporter, and a gateway for UAE-based companies to access the huge benefits provided by the region.