Kenya-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement
Wednesday, January 16, 2025, marked a historic breakthrough in the relationship between Kenya and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). President William Ruto and His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, presided over the signing of the Kenya-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). This groundbreaking agreement is the first between the UAE and a mainland African country. It symbolizes a strong match toward enhancing trade, investment, and economic cooperation between the two nations.
The CEPA strengthens Kenya’s position as a key gateway to East and Southern Africa while reaffirming the UAE’s role as a global logistics and financial hub connecting the Middle East, Asia, and beyond. This partnership is also important for Kenya’s aviation sector, as it opens new opportunities for collaboration and growth in logistics, air transport, and cargo services.
Booming Trade Between Kenya and the UAE
Over the past decade, trade between Kenya and the UAE has more than doubled, reaching KSH 445 billion in 2023. The UAE is Kenya’s sixth-largest export destination and its second-largest source of imports, accounting for 16% of Kenya’s total imports.
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Kenya’s key exports to the UAE include:
Meat and Meat Products: Worth KSH 9.9 billion in 2023, representing more than half of Kenya’s total meat exports.
Fruits: Pineapples, avocados, and mangoes accounted for KSH 5.2 billion.
Vegetables and Flowers: These generated KSH 5.6 billion, supporting millions of livelihoods across Kenya.
In return, the UAE supplies Kenya with critical goods such as petroleum, machinery, chemicals, and other essential products that drive Kenya’s economy.
Aviation and Logistics
The CEPA’s focus on eliminating trade barriers, simplifying customs procedures, and promoting industrialization is expected to boost Kenya’s aviation industry. Enhanced logistics and air transport will play an important role in facilitating trade, allowing Kenyan exporters to deliver agricultural products more efficiently to UAE markets. This will enhance Kenya’s global competitiveness, particularly in the export of perishable goods such as fruits, vegetables, and flowers.
Furthermore, the agreement opens doors for Kenyan service providers in education, transport, construction, and engineering to access the UAE market. The aviation industry will benefit from increased foreign investment, technology transfer, and the development of sustainable practices, aligning with Kenya’s Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA).
A Commitment to Sustainability
The CEPA reflects a shared vision for sustainability and green economic growth. Both nations have agreed to promote clean technologies and environmentally responsible practices. This commitment ensures that economic progress does not come at the expense of the environment, supporting long-term growth in sectors like aviation and logistics.
The agreement provides the UAE with investment opportunities in critical sectors of Kenya’s economy, including Energy, Water, Agriculture, Health, Ports, Airports, Logistics, Human Resource Development and ICT.
For Kenya, these investments are expected to reduce reliance on borrowing by enhancing foreign direct investment and fostering public-private partnerships. The aviation sector, in particular, stands to gain significantly from infrastructure improvements at airports and the development of advanced logistics hubs.
Building on Existing Trade Strategies
The CEPA complements Kenya’s broader trade strategy, which includes agreements such as the Kenya-EU Economic Partnership Agreement, the Kenya-UK Economic Partnership Agreement, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), and the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) with the United States. These agreements collectively position Kenya as Africa’s gateway to global markets, providing duty-free, quota-free access to markets representing nearly half of the world’s GDP.