UAE’s BRICS membership expands partnerships, strengthens global trade, investment role

ABU DHABI: The UAE is participating in the 18th BRICS Summit, hosted in the Indian capital, New Delhi, on 12th and 13th September, as a full member of the group since January 2024. Its membership supports the country's efforts to expand its economic and trade partnerships and strengthen its presence in global markets, while adding to the group an economy that serves as a global hub for trade, investment and logistics. The UAE's membership is gaining increasing significance given the economic weight of BRICS, whose member countries account for around 49.5 percent of the world's population, nearly 40 percent of global GDP and 26 percent of global trade. The membership aligns with the UAE's approach of economic openness and diversification of partnerships, while creating opportunities to develop trade corridors, expand investment and business channels, and strengthen cooperation with emerging and developing economies. Non-oil foreign trade between the UAE and BRICS countries exceeded US$312 billion in 2025, compared with US$243 billion in 2024, representing growth of 28.5 percent. BRICS countries accounted for around 31 percent of the UAE's total non-oil foreign trade, 34 percent of imports, 23 percent of non-oil exports and 28 percent of re-exports. This coincides with the expansion of the UAE's Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) programme, under which 38 agreements have been signed since its launch in September 2021, including CEPAs with India and Indonesia, both BRICS members. China and India rank as the UAE's leading trading partners within the group. The UAE's non-oil foreign trade with China reached US$111.5 billion in 2025, up 24.5 percent, surpassing US$100 billion for the first time, driven by expanding cooperation in trade, investment, industry, technology and logistics. The UAE's non-oil trade with India reached AED107.5 billion during the first half of 2026, supported by the UAE-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). With Russia, the Trade in Services and Investment Agreement between the two countries has entered into force, expanding cooperation in services and value-added investments and complementing the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between the UAE and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). Non-oil trade between the UAE and Russia reached US$20.4 billion in 2025, an increase of 77.7 percent compared with 2024 and nearly double the US$10.8 billion recorded in 2022. With Brazil, bilateral trade exceeded US$5.4 billion, alongside expanding cooperation in investment, infrastructure and logistics. The UAE's BRICS membership further strengthens its role as a logistics hub for the group, leveraging its strategic location, advanced infrastructure and trade networks to develop multimodal corridors that shorten transit times and facilitate trade flows between BRICS countries and global markets. In this context, the UAE has developed routes linking Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia, reducing cargo transit time via the Port of Karachi to Uzbekistan to around 10 days. Membership also provides opportunities to enhance investment flows into the UAE, particularly from BRICS countries, which are important sources of foreign direct investment in mining, transport, financial services, information technology, clean energy and the automotive industry. These sectors align with the UAE's priorities in the new economy, innovation and economic diversification. In turn, BRICS countries benefit from the UAE's stature as a global hub for trade, investment and economic development and as a logistics gateway connecting markets, alongside existing UAE investments across member countries in infrastructure, food security, clean energy, transport, industry and other sectors. The UAE's membership supports the development of balanced economic relations, promotes sustainable growth and strengthens the country's presence in emerging and developing markets. It also broadens the UAE's participation in the group's economic and financial initiatives.