Page 434 - MOE ENGLISH PR REPORT

Page 434 - MOE ENGLISH PR REPORT - FEBRUARY 2024

P. 434

2/27/24, 9:36 AM UAE and Kenya finalize terms of a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement - mid-east.info
Her Excellency Rebecca Miano, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Investments, Trade and Industry,
said: “The Kenyan leadership has identified trade as a key lever of economic growth and

transformation. We are on a national development path that is seeking to increase industrial
output, enhance the quality and global competitiveness of that output, and to expand the

opportunities for its export. The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with the
United Arab Emirates will play a key role in these efforts, enabling our exports to reach

important markets in Asia and the Middle East, and also in stimulating the investment inflows
that will further develop our national capabilities. We look forward to its implementation and

the mutual benefits it will deliver.”

Kenya’s economy, one of the most promising in Africa, experienced real GDP growth

accelerating from 4.8% in 2022 to an estimated 5% in 2023, while it is projected that real
GDP will grow between 4.5% and 5.2% in 2024. Among others, its services sector, which

accounts for 53.6 percent of Kenya’s GDP, and agriculture sector, comprising around a quarter
of national GDP, offer vast potential for UAE businesses looking to expand into the region.

Foreign trade remains the cornerstone of the UAE’s economic agenda. In 2023, the UAE’s non-

oil trade in goods reached an all-time high of $710 billion, a 12.6% increase on 2022 – and
34.7% more than 2021. The UAE has already concluded CEPAs with India, Israel, Indonesia,

Türkiye, Georgia, Cambodia, Mauritius, Congo-Brazzaville, Colombia, South Korea, Costa Rica.