One Year of India-UAE CEPA

February 18, 2023

India and UAE signed the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement in 2022. In 2023, the countries celebrated one year of signing the agreement recently. CEPA is a Free Trade Agreement. With UAE, India signed CEPA on agriculture, taxation, customs valuation, trade in goods, import licensing, export subsidies, non-tariff measures, intellectual property, dispute settlement, MSME, digital trade, etc.

Background

The countries signed the agreement on February 18, 2022, during a virtual summit held between Indian PM Modi and the UAE President Zayed Al Nahyan.

Achievements with CEPA

Due to CEPA, the trade between the countries increased to 57.8 billion USD. Before the agreement, the trade between the countries stood at 45.3 billion USD. Trade increased by 27.5%.

Significance

The India-UAE CEPA was the first bilateral agreement India signed with middle-east or north African region.

Imports and Exports

Between April 20222 and November 2022, Indian exports to UAE increased by 19.32%. The agreement came into force in May 2022. The major trade sectors were food security, energy, education, and health care.