The Economic Partnership Agreement between the United Arab Emirates and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) entered into force on 6 October 2026. An Emirates News Agency report that day, relaying an announcement by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Trade, says the framework covers merchandise trade between the UAE and the EAEU’s five members: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia. It is intended to reduce or remove customs duties across a broad range of products, streamline customs procedures and address trade barriers. The agreement also sets rules for customs cooperation, e-commerce, economic cooperation and small and medium-sized enterprises’ participation in international trade. Entry into force means the framework has started; it does not mean every company automatically qualifies for a tariff preference.

The UAE announcement says preferential access will apply to more than 86% of tariff lines, representing about 96% of the value of goods currently traded between the two sides. Those percentages describe different things: the first is the share of tariff lines receiving preferential treatment, while the second is the share of current trade value covered. The announcement does not provide product-level duty reductions, quotas or an implementation schedule, so the two figures cannot be read as one average cut in customs duties. The stated expectation that annual trade could approach US$50 billion by 2032 is a policy projection, not an observed result.

According to the announcement, UAE–EAEU non-oil trade reached US$33.6 billion in 2025, up 16% from US$29 billion in 2024 and more than four times its 2021 value. Imports from the EAEU were reported at US$17.8 billion in 2025 and re-exports at US$13.7 billion. In the first half of 2026, non-oil trade increased 6.2% year on year to US$14.3 billion. These are trade flows for different periods; an annual total and a six-month total are not directly comparable. Because the announcement does not separate price and quantity effects, growth in dollar value alone does not establish that physical shipments expanded at the same rate.

The agreement was signed in Minsk on 27 June 2025. The UAE describes its wider comprehensive economic partnership programme as part of a goal to raise non-oil foreign trade to AED4 trillion by 2031. Lower customs costs could make market entry easier for exporters, but logistics charges, rules of origin, product standards, access to finance and demand also shape actual trade. Assessing the US$50 billion expectation will therefore require later bilateral merchandise-trade data, sector detail and information on products that receive preferences. The announcement confirms the start date and coverage indicators; it does not report a new order, revenue or employment outcome for a particular company.