UAE Free Trade Agreements (CEPA): India, Indonesia and the Global Trade Push

Last reviewed: July 2026. Checked quarterly against the UAE Ministry of Foreign Trade’s official CEPA tracker.

Most coverage of the UAE’s trade agreements either lists a handful of country names with no real detail, or drowns in tariff-line technicalities no business owner actually needs. This guide covers what CEPA actually is, why it is structurally different from a standard free trade agreement, and what the UAE’s flagship deals with India and Indonesia specifically mean if you are exporting, importing, or investing through the UAE, along with a practical look at how a business actually claims the preferential treatment these agreements offer.

Quick Answer: UAE CEPA Agreements at a Glance

• CEPA stands for Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, the UAE’s preferred trade agreement format, broader in scope than a standard free trade agreement
• The UAE has signed 27 CEPAs as of the most recent count, with more than a dozen already in force, including flagship deals with India, Indonesia, Israel and Turkey
• India was first, signed 18 February 2022 and in force since 1 May 2022, negotiated in a record 88 days
• Indonesia followed, entering into force 1 September 2023, targeting Southeast Asia’s largest economy specifically
• The programme sits inside the UAE’s “Projects of the 50” initiative and directly supports the foreign trade targets embedded in the UAE’s federal economic strategy

What Is a CEPA and How Is It Different from a Standard FTA?

A Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement goes beyond the tariff-reduction focus of a conventional free trade agreement.

• Broader scope: alongside tariff elimination or reduction, a CEPA typically covers services trade, investment protection, digital trade, customs facilitation, and sector-specific cooperation, energy, logistics, tourism and technology among them
• Bilateral investment protections: several UAE CEPAs, including the India agreement, establish dedicated bilateral bodies, such as the UAE-India Technical Council on Investment and Trade Promotion and Facilitation, to actively manage the relationship rather than leaving implementation to chance
• Faster negotiation cycle: the UAE-India CEPA was negotiated in just 88 days, unusually fast by international trade agreement standards, reflecting the UAE’s deliberate strategy of moving quickly on strategic partnerships rather than pursuing exhaustive multilateral negotiations
• Tariff lines, not blanket coverage: a CEPA specifies which product categories, defined by tariff line, receive reduced or eliminated duties, and the coverage expands in phases over several years rather than applying uniformly from day one
• Services and professional mobility: many CEPAs also address mutual recognition of professional qualifications and easier movement of skilled workers between partner countries, a dimension that matters for services businesses, consultancies, healthcare providers, engineering firms, as much as it does for goods traders

Why the UAE Chose the CEPA Model

Standard free trade agreements, particularly multilateral ones negotiated through frameworks like the WTO, can take a decade or longer to conclude given the number of parties and competing interests involved. The UAE’s bilateral CEPA model sidesteps that by negotiating directly, country by country, with a specific commercial objective in mind for each partner. This is precisely why the India agreement took 88 days rather than years, and why the CEPA programme has scaled to 27 signed agreements in roughly four years, a pace that would be structurally impossible under a traditional multilateral trade negotiation model.

UAE-India CEPA: The Flagship Agreement

The UAE-India CEPA remains the cornerstone of the entire programme, both as the first deal signed and as the clearest proof of concept for what a CEPA can deliver.

Key Facts

• Signed: 18 February 2022, entered into force 1 May 2022
• Scope: covers 11,908 Indian tariff lines and 7,581 UAE tariff lines, among the most comprehensive coverage of any UAE trade agreement
• Structure: includes a dedicated Bilateral Investment Treaty component and the UAE-India Technical Council on Investment and Trade Promotion and Facilitation to oversee ongoing implementation

Results Four Years In

• Total bilateral trade has crossed USD 100 billion, growing more than 37% since the agreement took effect
• The UAE is now India’s third-largest trade partner, and India ranks among the UAE’s most significant partners in return
• Earlier tracked data showed bilateral exchanges rising from USD 73 billion (April 2021 to March 2022, pre-CEPA) to USD 84 billion (April 2022 to March 2023, the agreement’s first full year), a 16% year-on-year increase
• The agreement was India’s first new trade deal in over a decade at the time of signing, a signal of how significant the UAE partnership was considered on the Indian side as well

UAE-Indonesia CEPA: Southeast Asia’s Gateway

The UAE-Indonesia CEPA entered into force on 1 September 2023, the same day as the UAE-Turkey agreement, and specifically targets Indonesia’s position as Southeast Asia’s largest economy.

• Priority sectors: energy, petrochemicals, ports, logistics, tourism, and increasingly digital trade
• Distinct feature: the agreement includes specific provisions on Islamic economics, streamlined customs procedures, and digital trade facilitation, reflecting both countries’ overlapping strategic priorities
• Trade target: non-oil bilateral trade with Jakarta is targeted to reach USD 10 billion by 2027
• Investment direction: the deal is structured to attract UAE investment into Indonesia’s growing digital economy and renewable energy sectors, while boosting Indonesian exports into the UAE and, through it, the wider Gulf and African re-export markets

For a UAE-based importer or exporter, the Indonesia CEPA is particularly relevant if your supply chain touches palm oil, textiles, electronics components, or renewable energy equipment, sectors where Indonesia holds genuine scale advantages.

A Worked Example: How CEPA Changes Landed Cost

To make the tariff mechanics concrete, consider a Dubai-based trading company importing electronics components from India before and after CEPA implementation.

• Before CEPA: a shipment of components valued at AED 500,000 might attract the UAE’s standard 5% import duty, adding AED 25,000 in customs cost before the goods even clear the port
• After CEPA, if the tariff line is covered: that same shipment, provided it meets the agreement’s rules of origin, could see the duty reduced or eliminated entirely, depending on which phase of the tariff reduction schedule currently applies to that specific tariff line
• The catch: not every tariff line reaches zero duty immediately; many CEPAs phase reductions in over five, ten or even fifteen years for sensitive product categories, so the exact saving depends on checking your specific product’s current phase rather than assuming full elimination from day one
• The compounding effect: for a business moving repeat shipments of the same product category, even a partial duty reduction compounds meaningfully over a full year of trading volume, which is why serious importers and exporters build tariff line verification into their sourcing decisions rather than treating it as an afterthought

This is the practical reality behind the “USD 100 billion trade boost” headline figures, real savings accrue tariff line by tariff line, shipment by shipment, not as a single blanket discount applied the day an agreement takes effect.

Other Major UAE CEPA Partners

Agreements with Australia, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Chile, Colombia, Kenya, Ukraine, Vietnam, and several others have been signed but are not yet fully implemented, while talks have concluded with the Philippines, Morocco and Armenia, and negotiations continue with additional partners including Japan. This pipeline matters for businesses planning multi-year supply chain or market-entry strategies, since a signed-but-not-yet-implemented agreement is a genuine signal of where preferential access is heading next.

How Many CEPAs Has the UAE Signed?

• The UAE has signed 27 CEPAs as of the most recent official count, following the Azerbaijan agreement signed in the presence of President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan
• More than a dozen of these are already operational and in force, with the remainder progressing through domestic ratification processes in each partner country
• The programme is a direct pillar of the “Projects of the 50”, the UAE’s federal initiative launched in 2021 to drive the country’s next phase of economic development
• The UAE Ministry of Economy has estimated that each individual CEPA has the potential to boost bilateral trade by as much as USD 100 billion over five years, though actual results vary significantly by partner economy size and existing trade relationship

This expanding CEPA network is one of the clearest practical mechanisms behind the ambitious foreign trade targets set under the UAE’s federal economic strategy. Our guide to UAE Vision 2030 explained covers how We the UAE 2031’s AED 4 trillion foreign trade target connects directly to this CEPA expansion, and our guide to the Dubai Economic Agenda D33 covers how Dubai’s own trade and logistics ambitions build on the same foundation.

What CEPA Means for UAE Businesses and Exporters

• Reduced or eliminated import duties on a defined list of tariff lines when trading with CEPA partner countries, directly lowering landed cost for businesses importing raw materials or components from, or exporting finished goods to, these markets
• Faster customs clearance through the trade facilitation provisions embedded in most CEPAs, reducing the administrative overhead that typically slows cross-border trade
• Stronger investment protections for UAE businesses expanding into partner markets, and for foreign investors from partner countries setting up in the UAE, backed by the bilateral investment frameworks several CEPAs establish
• New market access for re-export businesses: a UAE-based general trading company can use CEPA preferential access as a genuine competitive advantage when sourcing from or distributing into partner markets; our guide to the general trading license in Dubai covers the licensing side of building that kind of cross-border trading operation
• Sector-specific opportunities: the Indonesia CEPA’s digital trade and renewable energy provisions, and Israel’s technology and innovation focus, mean CEPA benefits are not uniform, matching your specific sector to the right partner agreement is where the real advantage sits

How to Access CEPA Benefits for Your Business

• Confirm your product’s tariff line classification against the specific CEPA covering your target market, since preferential treatment applies by tariff line, not blanket product category
• Obtain a Certificate of Origin where required, since most CEPA preferential rates depend on proving the goods genuinely originate from, or are substantially transformed in, a CEPA partner country or the UAE itself
• Engage directly with the Ministry of Foreign Trade or Ministry of Economy for company-specific guidance; the UAE government maintains a dedicated CEPA inquiry channel for businesses seeking to understand how a specific agreement applies to their trade flows
• Factor phased implementation into long-term planning, since many CEPAs expand tariff coverage over several years rather than eliminating all duties immediately, meaning the full benefit of an agreement often builds over its first three to five years rather than arriving all at once
• Review your company structure against your target CEPA markets; foreign investors setting up UAE operations specifically to access CEPA-preferential trade routes should confirm their structure supports this before committing, and our guide on how foreign investors can open a business in Dubai covers the ownership and setup basics that sit underneath any CEPA-driven market entry strategy

For authoritative, current detail on any specific agreement, the UAE Ministry of Economy and Tourism’s CEPA portal and the Ministry of Foreign Trade’s CEPA page are the primary official sources, both maintained directly by the government departments responsible for negotiating and implementing these agreements.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does CEPA stand for?

Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, the UAE’s preferred format for bilateral trade agreements, covering tariffs, services, investment and sector-specific cooperation more broadly than a standard free trade agreement.

How many free trade agreements has the UAE signed?

The UAE has signed 27 CEPAs as of the most recent count, with more than a dozen already operational, including agreements with India, Indonesia, Israel, Turkey, Cambodia, Georgia, Costa Rica, Mauritius, Serbia and Jordan.

Which was the UAE’s first CEPA?

The UAE-India CEPA, signed 18 February 2022 and in force since 1 May 2022, negotiated in a record 88 days and remaining the flagship agreement in the programme.

What is the UAE-Indonesia CEPA’s trade target?

Non-oil bilateral trade between the UAE and Indonesia is targeted to reach USD 10 billion by 2027, with priority sectors including energy, petrochemicals, ports, logistics, tourism and digital trade.

How does a business actually benefit from a CEPA?

Through reduced or eliminated import duties on covered tariff lines, faster customs clearance, stronger investment protections, and preferential access to partner-country markets, provided the business confirms its products’ tariff classification and origin requirements.

Is Saudi Arabia or Qatar part of the UAE’s CEPA network?

No. GCC member states trade with the UAE under the existing Gulf Cooperation Council customs union framework rather than a separate bilateral CEPA, since CEPAs are specifically negotiated with countries outside that existing arrangement.