UAE–DRC CEPA: Full Summary & What It Means for Business

The UAE–DRC Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement is a trade and investment deal between the United Arab Emirates and the Democratic Republic of Congo, signed on 2 February 2026 at a ceremony at Qasr Al Shati in Abu Dhabi, in the presence of UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and DRC President Félix Tshisekedi. The agreement itself was signed by Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, UAE Minister of Foreign Trade, and Julien Paluku Kahongya, Minister for International Trade of the DRC.

The DRC’s GDP stands at approximately $70.75 billion, making it one of Africa’s ten largest economies. UAE-DRC non-oil trade reached $2.9 billion in the first nine months of 2025 alone, a 16.1% increase year-on-year, and the deal is part of a UAE CEPA programme that now spans more than 30 agreements concluded, with 14 already in force, as the UAE works toward a target of $1.1 trillion in non-oil foreign trade by 2031.

Overview: What Was Signed

The CEPA is a trade and investment framework aimed at reducing tariffs and eliminating non-tariff trade barriers between the two countries. A few headline features stand out:

• UAE market access for 6,000 Congolese products. The CEPA gives Congolese exporters access to the UAE market across 6,000 product lines, aimed at easing market entry by cutting customs duties and strengthening trade safeguards.
• A joint $10 billion trade target by 2030. Both governments have set a goal of doubling bilateral trade to $10 billion within the decade, building on non-oil trade that already reached $2.9 billion in the first nine months of 2025.
• A parallel mining investment MoU. The UAE and DRC presidents witnessed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on investment cooperation in the mining sector, extending a relationship that includes a 2023 agreement worth $1.9 billion to develop at least four industrial mines in eastern Congo.
• A deep-water port MoU with DP World. A separate memorandum signed with the DRC’s National Transport Office covers the Banana deep-water port project, which Kinshasa regards as a strategic maritime hub for the country.
• Diplomatic and institutional cooperation. A further MoU establishes a diplomatic training partnership between the Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy and the Congolese Diplomatic Academy under the DRC’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation, and the Francophonie.

Why This Deal Matters

For the UAE, the agreement extends a fast-growing CEPA programme across Africa and reflects its strategy of positioning itself as a global trade and logistics hub, with the DP World-backed Banana port MoU in particular extending its reach into Central African maritime infrastructure. The deal sits alongside the UAE’s other African CEPAs, including those with Sierra Leone and Gabon, and its broader push into Asia through partnerships such as the Japan-Bangladesh Economic Partnership Agreement track.

For the DRC, as one of Africa’s top ten economies by GDP, the agreement opens a significant new export channel and investment relationship, with the UAE already exporting vehicles, machinery, electrical equipment, iron, and mineral fuels to the DRC, while the DRC supplies copper, natural pearls, and precious metals in return. The deal complements a wider pattern of resource-rich economies diversifying their trade relationships, visible elsewhere in agreements such as the US-Argentina reciprocal trade agreement and the UAE-Ecuador CEPA.

Market Access & Trade Figures

Investment, Side Deals & Priority Sectors

Timeline: From Signature to Entry Into Force

What It Means by Sector

The UAE’s Wider Trade Agreement Network

The UAE-DRC CEPA is one strand in a rapidly expanding UAE trade agreement programme spanning Africa, Asia, and Latin America. In Africa alone, the UAE has pursued CEPAs with the DRC, Sierra Leone, and Gabon, alongside its earlier agreement with Nigeria. In Asia, the UAE has concluded a CEPA with the Philippines, while in Latin America it has signed the UAE-Ecuador CEPA.

Seen in that context, the UAE-DRC CEPA fits a global pattern of bilateral trade deals moving faster than multilateral processes, visible in agreements such as the India-New Zealand FTA, the EU-Mexico modernised trade agreement, and the long-running India-EU FTA negotiations, as well as reciprocal arrangements such as the US-El Salvador, US-Guatemala, US-Bangladesh, US-Taiwan, US-Indonesia, and US-Ecuador reciprocal trade agreements. The broader trend also includes the EU-Mercosur trade agreement, the EU-Philippines FTA, the Korea-Serbia CEPA, the Canada-Ecuador FTA, the UK-GCC FTA, and the evolving US-India trade talks, all tracked in GTsetu’s FTA tracker alongside this one.

Frequently Asked Questions