The United Arab Emirates and Kenya have concluded a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA), UAE Minister of Foreign Trade Thani Al Zeyoudi announced on Friday.

Kenya, East Africa’s largest economy, was one of the first African countries with which the UAE launched bilateral trade deal talks in 2022 as part of a strategy to diversify its oil-based economy.

Non-oil trade between the Gulf state and Kenya reached $3.1 billion in 2023, up 26.4 per cent on 2022, Al Zeyoudi said in a post on social media platform X.

“We will now look to expand across sectors from food production and mining to technology and logistics,” he said of the agreement.

UAE state news agency WAM quoted Kenya’s trade minister Rebecca Miano as saying the deal would play an important role in enabling Kenyan exports to reach important markets in Asia and the Middle East and “in stimulating investment inflows that will further develop our national capabilities”.

The UAE has signed several CEPAs including with former foes Israel and Turkey and with Asian giants India and Indonesia. The Gulf state sealed its first CEPA with African nations in 2023 with the island of Mauritius and the Republic of Congo-Brazzaville.

• A Reuters report