UAE, Morocco finalise terms of Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement

Rabat, The United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Morocco have finalised the terms of a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) that will launch a new chapter of mutually beneficial trade and investment ties between the two countries. Upon implementation, the UAE-Morocco CEPA will facilitate the free flow of goods and services by reducing or removing tariffs, eliminating unnecessary barriers to trade, improving market access for services, enhancing customs harmonisation and establishing flexible rules of origin for goods. It will also establish platforms for investment and private-sector collaboration in priority sectors such as renewable energy, tourism, infrastructure, mining, food security, transport, logistics, and ICT, WAM reported. The two nations shared US$1.3 billion in non-oil trade in 2023, an increase of 30 percent in 2022 and 83 percent more than was recorded in 2019. The UAE is the largest Arab investor in Morocco with more than US$15 billion invested in a variety of strategic pro jects. Morocco is the sixth largest economy on the African continent. In 2023, its GDP was US$ 152.4 billion and is expected to grow by a further 3.5 percent in 2024. While agriculture remains the largest employer, the services sector is the largest contributor to GDP, accounting for 54 percent, with the industrial sector contributing 23 percent. The UAE's CEPA programme aims to increase the country's non-oil foreign trade to AED4 trillion by expanding relations with strategically important markets around the world. In 2023, the UAE's non-oil trade in goods reached an all-time high of US$710 billion, a 12.6 percent increase in 2022 - and 34.7 percent more than 2021. Morocco is the latest African nation to conclude CEPA terms with the UAE, following Mauritius, Kenya and Congo-Brazzaville. Source: Bahrain News Agency