Singapore and UAE intend to negotiate economic partnership pact
Non-oil trade between the countries reached approximately US$6.5 billion in 2025, a 25 per cent increase from 2024, according to a joint statement.
Singapore plans to open negotiations with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), its Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Oct. 21. The announcement came from Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan during Wong’s official visit.
The ministry said CEPA would help integrate the two economies more closely, ease investment and trade flows, and provide businesses with new opportunities. In their joint statement, the countries identified technology, energy, logistics, financial services, infrastructure and the digital economy as fields where they wanted to expand cooperation.
The joint statement ranked the UAE as Singapore’s leading trade partner and destination for investment in the Middle East and North Africa. It also welcomed Temasek’s announced plan for an office in Abu Dhabi to increase its presence in the UAE.
Three memoranda were exchanged in the leaders’ presence: one establishing a Joint Energy Taskforce, another addressing water cooperation and a third concerning vector control. Operating within the Abu Dhabi–Singapore Joint Forum, the taskforce will examine opportunities involving energy infrastructure, trading and downstream activities. The countries also welcomed existing nuclear energy cooperation involving the Emirates Nuclear Energy Company.
The statement also recognised progress towards the UAE joining the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement. Singapore chairs the working group handling the UAE’s accession, and both countries said they looked forward to completing that process.
