India and UAE Plan More Sustained Trade and Investment Relations under CEPA Umbrella

Abu Dhabi, September 18, 2025 – India and the United Arab Emirates discussed in high-level meetings on Thursday the deepening of their economic cooperation, a review of the success of their free trade agreement, and looking at investments in new areas like maritime and space. The talks were during the 13th India-UAE High-Level Joint Task Force on Investments, which was co-chaired by India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan of ADIA. UAE Minister of Foreign Trade, Dr Thani Al Zeyoudi was also present.

Strengthening Trade under CEPA

Since the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) took effect in May 2022, bilateral trade in merchandise has almost doubled, increasing from USD 43.3 billion during FY21 to approximately USD 83.7 billion in FY24.

India’s merchandise exports to the UAE also increased from around USD 28.04 billion during FY21-22 to USD 36.63 billion during FY24-25.

Both partners hope to further use the CEPA and other bilateral agreements to increase trade, lower barrier issues like tariffs and non-tariff barriers, and enhance cooperation in regulations.

New Investment Frontiers: Maritime, Space & Tech

Negotiations also highlighted new sectors of investment like maritime and space industries. Opportunity listed includes joint ventures for ship-building, port facilities, satellite technology and attendant support services.

Concurrently, Annual Meeting of the India-UAE Business Council was hosted to discuss India-UAE cooperation in fintech, trade-facilitation mechanisms, and logistics corridors, with business leaders of both nations participating in roundtables under the India-UAE Business Council.

Wider Economic & Policy Initiatives

Among the policy objectives deliberated were the India-UAE Double Taxation Treaty, central bank collaboration, and easing the flow of investments through ease of doing business and regulatory harmonisation.

Indian investments in the UAE have clearly surged after CEPA, particularly in sectors such as software & IT services, consumer goods, and realty, with the benefit of more streamlined regulatory structures.

UAE authorities also look to non-oil trade between the two countries crossing USD 100 billion a year by 2030 based on the gains under CEPA.

Future Outlook

Given that CEPA has already resulted in robust trade growth, the ongoing round of India-UAE talks is likely to spur further jumps in bilateral investment, particularly in sunrise industries like space technology, maritime infrastructure, fintech, and green. The efforts towards greater regulatory convergence, removing barriers to trade, and greater investor protection (through treaties and task forces) will likely facilitate cross-border investments.

Investors, traders, and policy analysts will be eager to see specific announcements — i.e., actual investment projects, maritime/space cooperation agreements, or new bilateral instruments of trade facilitation. If these work out, India-UAE relations could be a model for the world for large scale trade-investment arrangements.

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