UAE Non-Oil Trade With OIC States Rises 20.2% to $194.8 Billion in First Half

Al Zeyoudi and Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, the foreign minister's envoy to Turkey, represented UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan at the 42nd session of COMCEC. COMCEC is the OIC's Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation, and the session ran from October 31 to November 3. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan opened the ministerial meeting. This year's theme was developing effective trade finance tools to increase exports from member states.

The UAE's Trade With the Bloc

In the UAE's address, Al Zeyoudi said the country's non-oil foreign trade with OIC members was about $358.1 billion in 2025, or 35 percent of its non-oil trade with the world. WAM reported that this included about $80 billion of non-oil exports, $127 billion of re-exports and $151.2 billion of imports.

He described the bloc as a large economic group: 57 countries with about a quarter of the world's population and combined GDP of nearly $10 trillion, roughly 10 percent of global output. Member states exported about $2.7 trillion of goods in 2025. About $650 billion of that, roughly 24 percent, was trade among themselves.

Al Zeyoudi called for further work on the OIC's system of trade preferences, lower tariff and procedural barriers, and better trade and logistics networks. He also urged member states to speed up digital transformation. He said advanced technology and AI applications should be used to modernise customs and logistics procedures, make supply chains more efficient and make exports more competitive. He linked the need for closer coordination to rapid geopolitical and economic shifts that are disrupting international trade and supply chains.

He also pointed to the UAE's programme of Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements as a model for rules-based trade opening and offered to share the country's experience with other members.

Bilateral Meetings

On the sidelines, Al Zeyoudi met Qatar's Minister of Commerce and Industry Sheikh Faisal bin Thani bin Faisal Al Thani, Bahrain's Minister of Industry and Commerce Abdulla bin Adel Fakhro and Kuwait's Minister of Finance Dr Yaqoub Al Rifai, as well as ministers from Chad and Mozambique, WAM said. He also met Turkish Trade Minister Omer Bolat, with UAE Ambassador to Turkey Saeed Thani Al Dhaheri present, to discuss trade and investment in strategic sectors.

The figures show how much of the UAE's trade growth now comes from Muslim-majority markets in Asia and Africa, many of which are also CEPA partners. The 20 percent first-half rise came during a year of disruption to Gulf shipping routes. That suggests the UAE's role as a re-export and logistics hub for the bloc has held up, and the government is presenting digital and AI-enabled trade infrastructure as part of that offer.