The UAE and Argentina have launched negotiations for a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), on the sidelines of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
A statement on this was issued following a meeting on Thursday in New York between Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, UAE Minister of Foreign Trade, and Pablo Quirno, Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship of Argentina.
Both Ministers highlighted the excellent state of bilateral relations between Argentina and the United Arab Emirates and reaffirmed their commitment to further deepening trade and investment ties in areas of common interest, with a view to supporting greater economic cooperation between the two countries.
They underscored the Bilateral Investment Treaty and the Double Taxation Agreement currently in force between the two countries as key building blocks of this cooperation, providing a stable, predictable, and robust framework conducive to greater trade and investment flows.
As a further step in this direction, they announced the launch of trade negotiations toward a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between Argentina and the UAE, with a view to fast-tracking the negotiations and concluding an ambitious agreement that expands market opportunities for goods and services of mutual interest.
This initiative will foster greater synergies between trade and investment in both economies, with the aim of attracting high-quality investments in key sectors of mutual interest, including mining and minerals, artificial intelligence (AI) and data centers, pharmaceuticals, energy, agribusiness, aerospace, tourism, infrastructure, real estate, and urban development.
Both sides highlighted the strategic partnership between YPF and XRG as an example of the high-impact investments that the two countries seek to promote. The partnership forms part of the broader Argentina LNG project, which is expected to entail total investments of approximately $51 billion over the course of its development. The initiative establishes a roadmap for the development of an LNG project with an initial production capacity of 12 million tonnes per year, with potential for future expansion. -TradeArabia News Service
