Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to the UAE culminated in the signing of agreements and memoranda of understanding on Wednesday worth $50.7 billion, and consented to jointly establish a “higher strategic committee” between the two countries, the official Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported.
In Abu Dhabi, UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed and Erdogan witnessed the signing of the agreements aimed at “diversifying the areas of comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries and expanding its horizons in order to achieve the aspirations of the two countries for sustainable economic growth and prosperity.”
Erdogan went on a Gulf tour, starting with Saudi and then heading to Qatar and the UAE.
The signed agreements and memorandums of understanding covered the areas of mutual support and protection of investments, the extradition agreement between the two countries, and legal and judicial cooperation in civil and commercial matters.
Read: Erdogan kicks off GCC tour in Saudi
This is in addition to signing a memorandum on space cooperation in developing the capabilities of joint launch vehicles for commercial purposes, plus a memorandum of understanding in the field of defense industries, and another for financing through financial instruments for earthquake relief.
The UAE president awarded his Turkish counterpart the Zayed Medal, the highest honor awarded by the UAE to state leaders, kings and presidents, according to WAM.
WAM reported that the UAE’s investments in Türkiye amounted to $7.8 billion until the end of 2021, and there are expectations that it will increase several times over by 2030.
UAE investments in the Turkish market diversified, covering sectors as diverse as financial services, real estate, transport and communications, renewable energy, ports and logistics.
In March last year, the UAE and Türkiye signed the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement during a virtual presidential summit, which is expected to significantly increase the level of investments in both countries.
This agreement aims to enhance economic integration and partnership between the two countries in a variety of trade and investment sectors.
Non-oil trade between the two countries increased by 40 percent to reach $19 billion in 2022, making Türkiye one of the UAE’s top 10 trading partners globally with a share of more than 3 percent of the UAE’s total non-oil foreign trade.
After the Comprehensive Economic Partnership (CEPA) comes into force, tariffs on 82 percent of products and goods will be reduced, accounting for more than 93 percent of the value of non-oil trade between the two countries.
The agreement will also remove unnecessary barriers to trade, provide new routes for FDI flows between the two countries, and enhance local exporters’ access to new markets in key sectors such as construction, metal products, polymers and other industries.
This agreement aims to increase the value of non-oil intra-oil trade from $19 billion to more than $40 billion annually within five years and increase UAE exports to Türkiye by 21.7 percent while boosting investment flows.
According to the WAM report, Al Qabida is one of the leading UAE investment companies in Türkiye, along with Emirates NBD, Emaar Properties, Global Holding and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.
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