17:05, 14 мая 2026, Bishkek - 24.kg news agency , Aizada KUTUEVA
United Arab Emirates has granted the Kyrgyz Republic tariff preferences covering 444 export commodity sub-items.This is stated in the draft law «On the ratification of the Economic Partnership Agreement between the Eurasian Economic Union and its Member States, on the one hand, and the United Arab Emirates, on the other, signed on June 27, 2025, in Minsk, Republic of Belarus.»
The agreement includes: zero customs duties, simplified trade procedures, procedures for applying protective measures, the application of standards, technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures, sanitary, veterinary, and phytosanitary measures, the development of customs cooperation, as well as cooperation in intellectual property, e-commerce, public procurement, competition, and other areas.
The Kyrgyz Republic conducts trade relations with the United Arab Emirates based on the principle of non-discrimination, in accordance with the rules of the World Trade Organization, and applies the most-favored-nation treatment and rates approved by the Common Customs Tariff of the Eurasian Economic Union.
From 2020 to 2024, the Kyrgyz Republic’s trade turnover with the UAE increased 10.4-fold. In 2025, Kyrgyzstan’s trade turnover with the UAE amounted to $179.5 million, a decrease of 2 percent compared to 2024. Imports amounted to $52 million (a decrease of 17 percent), while exports increased by 6.1 percent to $124 million.
The share of the United Arab Emirates in the Kyrgyz Republic’s trade turnover in 2025 was 1.1 percent, including 4.3 percent in exports and 0.4 percent in imports.
Exported items: telephones (87 percent of exports to the UAE), computers and their components, aircraft and their parts, jet fuel, food products (beans, honey, other nuts, live animals, canned meat, tobacco products), copper and aluminum products, automobiles, various apparatus and tools.
Imported items: mechanical engineering products (equipment, mechanical devices for industry and their parts, electrical machines and apparatus, vehicles and their parts, medical instruments, optical instruments, and others), chemical products (paints, varnishes, soaps and detergents, plastic and rubber products), chemical threads, clothing, other textiles, and various food products.
Under this agreement, the Kyrgyz Republic will gain expanded access to the UAE market in various sectors, covering trade in goods, services, and investment.
The UAE’s final tariff proposal covers 86 percent of the product range (categorized under the six Foreign Economic Activity Commodity Nomenclature symbols), which accounts for 98 percent of the EAEU’s exports to the UAE, amounting to $12.4 billion in 2023.
Regarding Kyrgyzstan’s current exports to the UAE, 99 percent of current exports are eligible for preferential treatment, and only 1 percent of Kyrgyzstan’s exports are not covered by concessions. This applies to cigarettes and cigarette substitutes, certain types of fittings, and other rubber products.
Cigarettes are systematically excluded by the UAE, and access to them is barred in all free trade agreements; therefore, it is not possible to obtain preferential treatment in the Emirati market.
During the negotiation process, the Kyrgyz side declared its interest in exporting 498 product sub-items. Following the negotiations, tariff preferences were granted for 444 of the 498 sub-items, which constitutes 89 percent of the initial list of export interest for the Kyrgyz Republic.