The New Zealand-United Arab Emirates Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) is New Zealand’s first free trade agreement in the Middle East, opening up new opportunities to grow and diversify exports in a dynamic, high-value market.
While 70% of New Zealand’s trade is now covered by Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), an important gap in our FTA coverage has been the Gulf region – which the CEPA addresses. The United Arab Emirates is a top-20 export market for New Zealand, and one of our largest markets in the Middle East.
New Zealand's goods and services exports to the UAE totalled NZ$1.1 billion in the year to June 2024. Two-way trade was NZ$1.3 billion.
Key exports to the UAE include:
- dairy ($718 million),
- industrial products ($237 million),
- red meat ($46 million),
- horticulture ($44 million), and
- travel services ($31 million).
Key imports from the UAE include:
- plastics,
- carpets,
- travel services, and
- glass.
The UAE is one of the wealthiest countries in the world on a per-capita basis, with a fast-growing and increasingly diversified economy built on financial services, logistics, transport and petroleum.
The UAE is an important hub for New Zealand into the region and a key component of our connectivity to the region and beyond, particularly in the aviation and maritime sectors. A significant New Zealand community resides in the UAE, particularly in its largest city Dubai.
New Zealand’s economic relationship with the UAE is supported by a strong bilateral political ties between both countries.
The UAE has concluded over 20 agreements since starting its CEPA programme in September 2021, with six already in force.
For more information on New Zealand-United Arab Emirates trade, see the Stats NZ New Zealand International Trade dashboard(external link).
For more on the UAE’s economy, see this MFAT Market Intelligence Report: ‘UAE: Economic update’ (July 2024).