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The Emirates News Agency reported that the 2025 trade total marked an increase from $243 billion in 2024 as the UAE continued to deepen commercial ties across the expanded BRICS grouping that now includes 10 nations. BRICS members accounted for 31 percent of the UAE’s overall non-oil foreign trade the agency said while supplying 34 percent of imports receiving 23 percent of non-oil exports and handling 28 percent of re-exports. The figures come as the UAE participates in the summit on September 12 and 13 with a high-level delegation building on its full membership that took effect more than two years ago.
A separate breakdown from the same official tally placed non-oil trade with China at $111.5 billion for 2025 a 24.5 percent rise that pushed the bilateral total above the $100 billion threshold for the first time. The growth was driven by cooperation in trade investment industry technology and logistics sectors according to the Emirates News Agency. China ranks as one of the UAE’s top two trading partners inside the bloc alongside India.
Trade with India reached Dh107.5 billion in the first half of 2026 the agency noted in updated figures supported by the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement that entered into force in 2022. The UAE has signed 38 such CEPAs since launching the programme in September 2021 including pacts with BRICS members India and Indonesia a government statement indicated. These agreements form part of a broader effort to diversify markets and elevate non-oil trade.
With Russia a Trade in Services and Investment Agreement has taken effect complementing an existing Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union the Emirates News Agency reported. The pact aims to expand cooperation in services and attract value-added investments between the two sides. Officials have highlighted logistics and infrastructure links as additional areas of collaboration within the BRICS framework.
BRICS as a whole accounts for nearly 40 percent of global gross domestic product about 26 percent of world trade and close to half the planet’s population according to bloc compilations. The UAE’s accession in January 2024 added a major trade and logistics hub to the group enhancing connectivity across Asia Africa and beyond. The membership aligns with the country’s long-term strategy to broaden economic partnerships while maintaining ties with traditional Western allies.
The UAE has set a target of lifting total non-oil foreign trade to $1.1 trillion by 2031 a goal that has gained momentum through its BRICS engagement and the CEPA network according to Ministry of Foreign Trade projections. Participation in the New Delhi summit provides a platform to advance specific initiatives in investment and sustainable development with fellow members. The country’s role as a global hub has been further solidified by these multilateral ties.
