Dubai, UAE – The Minister of Foreign Trade, Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zayoudi, confirmed that «the volume of non-oil intra-trade between the UAE and Kuwait amounted, during 2025, to about 54.5 billion dirhams (equivalent to 14.8 billion dollars), with an annual growth of 9.1% compared to 2024.
While the value of mutual investments exceeded $10 billion by the end of 2024, more than 60% of them were from the UAE to Kuwait».
Al Zayoudi’s statements came during the activities of the «UAE-Kuwait Economic Forum», which was held in Dubai on Monday, as part of the «UAE-Kuwait week. Brothers Forever», which extends until Wednesday, in all emirates of the country.
Al Zayoudi said in his speech during the forum: «The UAE and the State of Kuwait bring together bright chapters of cooperation and integration, recorded in letters of light in history books, which remind us that decades before the establishment of the UAE, Kuwaiti merchants were among the first to see commercial and investment opportunities in the UAE. A number of them have settled in Murshid Market, which bears the name of the well-known Kuwaiti merchant, Murshid Al-Osaimi, since the 1940s and 1950s, and have contributed to the trade in timber, pearls, and re-export, and Murshid Al-Osaimi himself was the one who founded the first cinema in Dubai about 70 years ago».
He added: «During this era, Kuwaiti merchants were not only transporting goods and commodities, but also ideas, knowledge and trust between the people of the two brotherly countries.»
He continued: «The sea formed the deepest link between the Emirates and Kuwait. In the pre-oil era, the economies of the two countries depended on pearl diving and maritime trade, and merchant ships (dhu) moved in a single network extending from the Gulf to India and East Africa. Kuwaiti merchants were the most organized in the Gulf, and benefited from the UAE ports, including Dubai and Sharjah, within a single cross-border trading system».
Al-Zayoudi continued: «The historical relationship between the two countries bears the stories of families who formed continuous pillars of trade across generations. Kuwaiti families began in the pearl trade, then moved to real estate and financial services in the country, and Emirati families expanded with their investments in Kuwait in the fields of aviation, ports, and industry, these stories highlight how the partnership transformed from a seasonal trade into a strong and permanent economic and social entanglement».
He pointed out that the story of eternal brotherhood between the UAE and Kuwait is not just prosperous trade numbers or data on mutual investment flows, but rather the story of merchants who were the first to strengthen the relationship, and a maritime trade corridor that brought people together and did not divide, and a trust that turned into institutions, and then into a unique Gulf model for integration. It is a relationship built by ambitious individuals that matured with the establishment of the state, and continues today through an advanced economy, without losing its deep-rooted human roots.
He explained that the holding of the «UAE-Kuwaiti Economic Forum» comes at a time when the historical relations between the two sister countries are witnessing unprecedented momentum, as a translation of the common will of the leaderships of the two countries to continue raising them to broader levels of strategic partnership and integration in all fields, at the heart of which, of course, are trade and investment ties.
