Ruto signs economic partnership deal with UAE

President William Ruto and his United Arab Emirates counterpart, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, presided over the signing of the Kenya-United Arab Emirates Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), marking a historic milestone in the economic relations between the two nations.

This is the first agreement of its kind signed by the UAE with a mainland African country, representing a transformative step in enhancing trade, investment, and economic cooperation.

The agreement aims to deepen trade ties by eliminating barriers to trade, simplifying customs procedures, and promoting industrialization and regional value chains.

The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement CEPA goes beyond trade in goods by addressing services, technological innovation, digital trade, and sustainability.

It also opens new opportunities for Kenyan service providers in sectors such as education, transport, communications, construction, and engineering to access the UAE market.

The partnership aligns with Kenya’s Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA) by unlocking new markets for priority value chains, attracting foreign direct investment, and promoting technology transfer to support livelihoods across the country.

Trade between Kenya and the UAE has more than doubled over the years reaching Ksh 445 billion in 2023.

UAE ranks Kenya as sixth-largest export destination and second-largest source of imports, accounting for 16pc of Kenya’s total imports.