The UAE has completed negotiations on a “Comprehensive Economic Partnership” agreement with the Republic of Congo, the second announced agreement with an African country in one week.
Dr. Thani Al Zeyoudi stressed that the UAE continues to expand the base of its trading partners around the world, focusing on the continent of Africa as one of the most promising regions for economic growth.
“Congo Brazzaville has a promising economy rich in natural resources, enjoys a strategic location in the West Central African region and connects many countries with vital economies and markets, and the two countries have a common desire to achieve long-term sustainable economic growth, and they can work together to achieve this goal and improve the access of their non-oil trade to regional and global markets,”the minister said.
Al Zeyoudi added that reaching the Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement between the UAE and Congo Brazzaville is an important milestone in the growing friendship relations between the two countries, and opens up wide areas for the business communities on both sides to build long-term partnerships and explore trade and investment opportunities, as the UAE can be a gateway for Congo Brazzaville exports to the Gulf, Arab and regional markets, similarly Congo Brazzaville can be a gateway for the UAE to the markets of Central Africa, in addition to that the agreement will open a new window for Emirati investments looking for promising opportunities in the continent.
For his part, the minister of economy and finance, Jean-Baptiste Onday, said: “I have no doubt that the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership agreement with the UAE, which we have successfully completed today and reached its final items, will contribute significantly to bringing new investments to provide the necessary financing for many promising projects in Congo-Brazzaville in order to achieve mutual interests, in addition, it will stimulate non-oil trade flows between the two friendly countries”.
The Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement between the UAE and Congo-Brazzaville, after the successful completion of the talks and thus its official conclusion and subsequent entry into force, aims to contribute to increasing non-oil trade flows between the two countries, which recorded 2.1 billion dollars in the first half of this year, with a growth of 134 percent compared to the first half of 2022.
It also aims to facilitate the flow of investments between the two countries, which are distributed across a number of vital sectors.
