US President Donald Trump plans to visit the United Arab Emirates as part of his first foreign trip in his second term. The visit, expected as early as May, will include stops in Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

“It could be next month, maybe a little later,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

Four sources said the trip is likely to take place in mid-May. Trump visited Saudi Arabia and Israel on his first foreign trip in 2017.

Trump said Saudi Arabia is expected to invest over $1 trillion in the US economy, including military equipment purchases. He suggested similar agreements could be signed in the UAE and Qatar.

“Tremendous jobs will be created in those two or three days,” Trump said, but he did not give further details.

A source said discussions may also include the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza.

A White House official said the trip is being considered, but no final plans have been made.

Last week, Trump said he wanted more countries to join the Abraham Accords, which aim to improve relations between Israel and Arab nations.

(Source: Reuters)

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is entering a new era of economic collaboration with two rapidly growing global players as it activates two of its Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements (CEPAs). The UAE-Türkiye CEPA and the UAE-Indonesia CEPA have officially come into force, setting the stage for enhanced trade and investment cooperation.

The primary goal of these CEPAs is to foster economic ties by doubling non-oil trade. The UAE-Türkiye CEPA aims to elevate bilateral non-oil trade to an impressive $40 billion within five years, while the UAE’s CEPA with Indonesia seeks to push non-oil trade beyond $10 billion within the same timeframe. These agreements also aim to facilitate investment projects valued at $10 billion in various sectors.

In the words of HE Al-Zeyoudi, “The implementation of our CEPAs with Türkiye and Indonesia marks a significant step forward in our foreign trade program. Both agreements will unlock significant opportunities for our private sector in two of the world’s most dynamic centers of growth.”

These CEPAs are the third and fourth of their kind to come into force for the UAE, following successful agreements with India in May 2022 and Israel in April 2023. They are a testament to the UAE’s foreign trade agenda, strategically forging robust economic connections with nations of global importance. Both CEPAs promise to reduce or remove tariffs on a wide range of goods, eliminate trade barriers, and create pathways for investments in vital sectors like logistics, energy, food production, fintech, e-commerce, and travel and tourism.

The UAE-Indonesia CEPA, inked in Abu Dhabi in July 2022, aims to significantly boost bilateral non-oil trade from $4.08 billion to over $10 billion within five years. Additionally, the agreement targets a combined trade in services worth $630 million by 2030. Notably, over 80 percent of UAE exports to Indonesia will now be exempt from customs duties under this pact. This partnership also has an eye on nurturing the rapidly expanding Islamic economy, projected to reach $3.2 trillion by 2024. It will accelerate investment projects worth $10 billion across sectors like agriculture, energy, infrastructure, and logistics. The UAE-Türkiye CEPA is equally impactful, having eliminated or reduced customs duties on 82 percent of product lines, accounting for more than 93 percent of bilateral non-oil trade. Türkiye was the UAE’s fastest-growing top ten trading partner in 2022, witnessing a 40 percent increase in non-oil trade to $18.9 billion. The newly liberalized trade environment is set to drive this figure to an impressive $40 billion within the next five years.

HE Al Zeyoudi also stressed that the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements play a vital role in attaining the nation’s objectives, in particular the vision laid out in “We The UAE 2031”, which seeks to double the UAE’s non-oil foreign trade to AED4 trillion and elevate national exports to AED800 billion. The recently published statistics from H1, 2023, which show a record non-oil foreign trade value of AED1.239 trillion for the first six months of the year, demonstrate that the UAE is firmly on track – and that the CEPA program will help maintain this upward trajectory.

The G20 Trade and Investment Ministerial Meeting (TIMM) was held in Jaipur, India, and Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, the UAE’s Minister of State for Foreign Trade, attended.

He presented ideas with ministers and trade officials to improve international commerce and make sure it keeps fostering long-term economic progress for all countries.

Before the Leaders’ Summit in New Delhi in September, this was the last G20 trade and investment ministers meeting.

It adopted the key resolutions developed during the year by the trade and investment working group, which centered on five priority issues: Trade for Growth & Prosperity; Resilient Trade and Global Value Chains (GVCs); Integrating MSMEs into World Trade; Logistics for Trade; and World Trade Organization (WTO) Reform.

The outcomes of the TIMM will be presented to the Leaders’ Summit on September 9-10.

The UAE participated in the latest meeting as an invited guest of India under its presidency to contribute to the G20 forum. The invitation reflects the UAE’s growing importance as a trade partner to the world’s leading economies.

In 2022, non-oil trade between the UAE and G20 countries exceeded $341 billion, representing 55 per cent of the UAE’s total non-oil trade.

These figures reflect a growth of 21 per cent compared to 2021. The G20 accounts for 38 per cent of the UAE’s export revenue, while 67 per cent of the UAE’s merchandise imports come from G20 member countries.